Creative Applications

Creative Applications

The Gutter Grabber ladder-on-gutter safety device, because of its simple design, is quickly adaptable to various challenges. Below are 3 examples of unanticipated, on-the-job challenges that the Gutter Grabber successfully conquered with just a little bit of creativity on the user’s part.

The photo immediately below shows the Gutter Grabber attaching the top of an 8-foot A-frame ladder to a gutter as the ladder had to be placed against a gutter, which was about 8 feet above a porch roof with a medium-grade pitch. Normally, placing the ladder in an almost completely vertical position on a roof and against the side of a gutter for the purpose of climbing that ladder would be out of the question, creating an extreme balancing issue. But, the simple use of the clip for the open gutter’s edge and a lashing strap enabled the Gutter Grabber safety device to attach the ladder against the gutter safely.

The challenge in the photo below is that the gutter has a double leaf cover-the heavy diamond screen to keep out large leaves and heavy sticks; and the fine screen to guard against small seeds. This renders the Gutter Guard's leaf guard hook (see it in the photo above not being utilized) useless, as the user can't penetrate the hook through the heavier diamond gutter guard and "hook the gutter for safety" due to the "seed" screen.

So, you can see how the user moved the ladder over to a roof vent to tie the lashing strap around it to crudely tie the ladder against the gutter. The significant accomplishment here is that tying the ladder against the gutter enables firm attachment of the ladder against the rubber gutter grabber blocks, which mitigate any force within the 180 degree hemisphere toward the roof side of the ladder. When the user leans his weight on the rails of the ladder to mount and dismount the roof, he is pushing his weight down against the rails of the ladder, causing the rubber gutter grabbers to keep the ladder from sliding against the gutter's edge.

Grant it, the vent pipe can only stand up against so many pounds of force in the unlikely event of a kickback or fallback scenario, and may not completely withstand the full weight of a 200 pound person falling back into the ladder. However, the probability of a full force fall is unlikely due to the fact that a lot of weight from the fall would land partially onto the roof itself, with only some of that transferred to the ladder.

The challenge below, again, is that the gutter has a double form of protection against leaves, sticks, and seeds; and the hook provided for gutter guards can not be employed (the top photo shows the gutter guard hook one would use on gutters with guards, although it is not utilized in the photo above.) Tying the lashing strap around the downspout (photo below) admittedly doesn't keep the ladder firmly against the gutter in all kickback scenarios. But, it does enable the gutter grabbers between the ladder rails and the gutter to hold the ladder firmly in place while mounting or dismounting, as that force would be in the direction of that 180 degree hemisphere on the roof side of the ladder. Naturally, this includes side-ward forces against the rail when mounting and dismounting what would otherwise cause the ladder to slide across the gutter, causing possible in-balance.