Subject: [Shop-talk] How to change a light bulb

From: Scott Hall via Shop-talk <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2019 21:48:49 -0600

I keep thinking there's a joke in there and I just can't find it.

New house has two...commercial-esque light fixtures pointing out over 
the back yard. They don't work and I assume it's the bulbs because I had 
to switch all the other bulbs in this house, so why not those too? Plus 
they're probably expensive (so the previous owner wouldn't have wanted 
to do it), and (the real reason for my question):

They're about 38-ish feet off the ground. Bolted to the side of the 
chimney. My extension ladder is 32 feet, and even if Home Depot sells 
something longer I'm not excited about paying $400+ for it.

My thoughts now to get this done (in no particular order) are:

1) rent scaffolding. This is attractive because I want to change the 
ceiling fan in the living room as well and that ceiling is only a few 
feet lower than the outside light fixtures. I could do both in one day. 
I'm not sure how else I'd get up to that thing.

2) buy the longest extension ladder I can find. I think I'll need 40 
feet, probably. Longer would be better. Expensive, but done.

3) try to get them from the roof. I'd have to get up to the roof there 
with a ladder placed on the first story roof, then go up the front side, 
over the peak, then down the back. The roof is fairly steeply pitched 
and while this is the cheapest option, it's probably more expensive when 
factoring in the hospital stay. The roof is really steep and I am 
unfamiliar with how to stick myself to it as a roofer would do. And it's 
a long drop. I can be talked into anything, but so far this is my last 
option.

4) rent a lift. Home Dept rents them, though I'm not sure if the back 
porch can hold its weight or if it could even get up the stairs onto the 
porch to begin with, and I doubt I could use it inside for the fan 
because I suspect it won't fit through a door.

Having said all that, surely someone here has dealt with this. Any thoughts?

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