# Q: how do I reseal fiberglass on a ladder?



## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I have an 8 ft folding ladder made of fiberglass. It's been kept outside for 10-12 years. The other day, I carried it and noticed that it was shedding small bits of the fiberglass. The itchy arms and hands told the story. It is not delaminating. 

* Any ideas on how to re-seal the fiberglass? Does it need a light sanding first?
* 

I was thinking maybe some wipe on poly would do the trick. Great ladder, particularly for electrical or getting into the attic. I'm going to work out some way to store it indoors. I think the intense UV out here in the desert caused this. Meanwhile, time for gloves.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, Tom;
https://shurhold.com/article/marine/repainting-your-fiberglass-boat/


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

I wouldn't trust it..
get another ladder...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Epoxy or a new gel coat which is time consuming and costly. Stick makes a good point. The
Integrity of the ladder has been compromised to some unknown extent.


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## Gino0105 (Feb 16, 2012)

I would suggest going to an auto parts store and purchase Poly reason only(repair kit with hardner). Yes clean the surface good.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Tom,

I've done quite a bit of fiberglass boat repair, and I agree with the others. Get another ladder. It will be safer and much easier than trying to repair the one that you have. Fiberglas gel coat is time consuming, involves working with time dependent epoxy mixes, and a spray gut that will likely be trash when you finish the job, not even considering the cost of materials. Uou will save money, time, and have a safer ladder by just replacing it.

Never just take a possibly unsafe ladder to the dump, as someone might try to use it. Cut the ladder into several short sections before disposing of it. 

Charley


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

15 minuets of consulting will get you a new ladder...
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Werner-...apacity-Type-IA-Duty-Rating-NXT1A08/100664450
besides, ladders aren't laid up glass mat there molded shredded fiber resin mix....


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I have to agree on the replacement part. Fibreglass ages and gets brittle especially after being exposed to UV.
Having said that, if it's a 5' step ladder...I mean how badly can you get hurt falling 2 or 3', eh?


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

Dump it


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Good advice. I'll pop for a new aluminum ladder. Don't really do electrical anymore. 
@Stick486 Having problems with my voice so not as much extra personal income these days. My daughter isn't closing clients worth a damn. Thinking of firing her and seeing about licensing or selling the business to someone else, or finding some other way to deliver it, say books and video. Takes 8 days to deliver it because it is an astonishingly complete system after 36 years. Takes up 9 notebooks, not counting the clinical course. Can't talk for 2 days anymore--aged out.


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

DaninVan said:


> I have to agree on the replacement part. Fibreglass ages and gets brittle especially after being exposed to UV.
> Having said that, if it's a 5' step ladder...*I mean how badly can you get hurt falling 2 or 3', eh?*


Depends on what hits the floor first.

And, BTW, you shouldn't issue any challenges - you know @RainMan 2.0 reads these posts


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

DaninVan said:


> I have to agree on the replacement part. Fibreglass ages and gets brittle especially after being exposed to UV.
> Having said that, if it's a 5' step ladder...I mean how badly can you get hurt falling 2 or 3', eh?


My wife was taking a walk last week around the neighborhood and fell and cracked 3 ribs. :frown:


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

DaninVan said:


> I have to agree on the replacement part. Fibreglass ages and gets brittle especially after being exposed to UV.
> Having said that, if it's a 5' step ladder...I mean how badly can you get hurt falling 2 or 3', eh?


Welllll, it all depends. I slipped on an icy sidewalk January 29th and ended up in hospital for three days with a broken patella (kneecap) broken tooth, slight concussion and I'm still doing therapy to walk properly again. I still can figure how I did it.

My knee is 2 feet or less from the ground. They say it's those "little" falls that surprise you. I'm gonna get me a pair of stilts.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Ouch!*



thomas1389 said:


> Welllll, it all depends. I slipped on an icy sidewalk January 29th and ended up in hospital for three days with a broken patella (kneecap) broken tooth, slight concussion and I'm still doing therapy to walk properly again. I still can figure how I did it.
> 
> My knee is 2 feet or less from the ground. They say it's those "little" falls that surprise you. I'm gonna get me a pair of stilts.


Did the same thing three yrs ago, on an icy, mossy, rock slope. Detached the patella, and tore all the connective stuff. Still painful. You have my sympathy! :crying:


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

if you fall off of something add the height under your feet to how tall you are and that is how far you fell...
so squat just before you fall and you won't fall as far...


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Don't trust it!
Fiberglas cannot withstand UV light.
IT is trash.
No doubt about it.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

A new ladder is much cheaper than a wheelchair or casket.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Ok, Ok, I'll get one. Jeeze you guys, you'd think I'd asked you to contribute money or something! I also have a 16ft extension ladder, but it's been stored out of the sun and is holding up well--better than the ladder a couple of guys I hired last year had. Besides, my days on high ladders are over.


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

DesertRatTom said:


> Ok, Ok, I'll get one. Jeeze you guys, you'd think I'd asked you to contribute money or something! I also have a 16ft extension ladder, but it's been stored out of the sun and is holding up well--better than the ladder a couple of guys I hired last year had. Besides, my days on high ladders are over.


If by contributing, you mean sending flowers, we'd rather not do that.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

vchiarelli said:


> If by contributing, you mean sending flowers, we'd rather not do that.


Actually, I just like to be amusing wherever possible. :wink:


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

DesertRatTom said:


> Actually, I just like to be amusing wherever possible. :wink:


Me too


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Heh...


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

I hesitate to give free advice. Socrates gave free advice and they poisoned him.


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> if you fall off of something add the height under your feet to how tall you are and that is how far you fell...
> so squat just before you fall and you won't fall as far...


I'm not just gonna squat before I fall, I'm gonna lay down!


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

DaninVan said:


> Did the same thing three yrs ago, on an icy, mossy, rock slope. Detached the patella, and tore all the connective stuff. Still painful. You have my sympathy! :crying:


I broke mine in half. Now it has two pins in it and is circled with titanium wire. What's taking the recovery time is getting the ligaments to stretch again. After surgery I could bend it 30 degrees. Now I'm up to 105. They say about 135 is average.
I just want to descend stairs normally again. Therapist says I will eventually and not to be in too much of a hurry.


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## r69hammer (Sep 13, 2004)

*It's Toast*

Good luck filing a claim if you get hurt


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

A "claim"? You mean 'Workers' Comp.' ? I doubt that most of us are even covered anymore. 
In defense of our socialized medicine in Canada, doing crazy stunts doesn't disqualify one from having their medical expenses _totally_ covered! 
The hospital will however _sell_ you a pair of crutches on your way out the door. Here, they don't give or loan you a pair as they know they'll never see them again...


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I have a Kaiser plan, they'd treat me for 5 bucks out of pocket, but that's theoretical congecture since the ladder's now history.

I decided to get a little advice about ladder safety from these guys...


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

The only smart one was the guy in the last picture - he got off the unsafe ladder. I think the ground broke his fall


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

:O !...

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LC542-91...oJEzitF_UY2GdDXgjeJb8gCLcBGAs/s1600/Climb.gif


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## jj777746 (Jan 17, 2015)

You have done well Tom,& helped a lot of people in your life.maybe time to retire & keep what vocal chords you have left. Best wishes,James jj777746


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

Just a little off the top, please.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I think the perfect title for that picture, Thomas, is "Impending Death." And he even parked a skiploader in the path of his fall so no one would have to get bloody removing his body. Considerate, huh.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, c'mon! He's perfectly safe; tied himself off to the trunk above his head.


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## Dejure (Jul 27, 2009)

I had a glass ladder that was starting to shed so I coated it in oil paint. That cut way back on the UV rays beating on it and stopped the shedding problem. The poly paints might be even better. One advantage of painting a glass ladder can be how easy it is to identify.


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

DaninVan said:


> I have to agree on the replacement part. Fibreglass ages and gets brittle especially after being exposed to UV.
> Having said that, if it's a 5' step ladder...I mean how badly can you get hurt falling 2 or 3', eh?


That would be the feet falling...the head would likely fall at a much higher accelerated rate at 32ft/sec(sq). Assuming the head takes a second longer to get to where the feet were, that would make the head fall faster than the feet. If the ladder were taller, the head could conceivably catch up with the feet and land flat but the feet would have landed slower. This then accounts for more damage being done to the upper part of the body rather than the lower.

Where's the math guys when ya need 'em...we need a better analysis than this...

...just sayin'...

Hey Tom...go for a new ladder...don't make us do the math on what part of your body would get hurt first...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Then there's how much less flexible we are now compared to when we were young and how much longer it takes for us to heal. That makes the math way more complicated.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Nickp said:


> we need a better analysis than this...
> ...just sayin'...


that's found under Forensic Physics...

.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

That ladder's long gone. Don't get up high anymore. When I put the roll roofing up on my porch shed, I found a video of an old guy who did a similar job all the while sitting down. Never got near the edge. Did the job that way. I'd added some side panels that made the structure ridgid and there were some pretty hefty screws holding the porch to the shed. These days, I wouldn't do that again. If something needs done that requires more than a 6 foot ladder on flat ground, I hire it done.

Amazed that this string got revived. Some good advice and some amusing entries. Fun to read it again.


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

I got a good laugh re reading the comments.


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Stick486 said:


> that's found under Forensic Physics...
> 
> .


Yeah...that's what I meant...

Reference material from the "Snork Mountain Library"...? You're too much...LOL...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

nickp said:


> reference material from the "snork mountain library"...? You're too much...lol...


yup...
And it's your fault...


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

My father had a friend who was changing a light bulb in the den. Fell off the ladder and hit his head on the tile floor. Gone!
I don't get any higher than my wife's stiletto heels.:x


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## thomas1389 (Jan 4, 2012)

Knothead47 said:


> My father had a friend who was changing a light bulb in the den. Fell off the ladder and hit his head on the tile floor. Gone!
> I don't get any higher than my wife's stiletto heels.:x


Doesn't she mind you wearing her shoes?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

thomas1389 said:


> Doesn't she mind you wearing her shoes?


probably doesn't know...
like we didn't either till now...


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Tmi


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

J/K....actually, she doesn't wear high heels. Hurt her feet and back.
I would be leery of a ladder that had fiberglass separating. I'll stick with aluminum; got one that is probably 60 years old and good as new, except for a few paint spots.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I thouht stiletto heels weren't for walking outside the bedroom. Maybe I've misunderstood all these years.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

curbside...


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