Fred Dibnah laddering a chimney (Part 1)

hmm well basically this is sort of a packing that keeps the weather off the war with the chimney so there's room for your boots vertical throwing on the wrongs of the weather there's two schools are thought in this one that the you know tie naman with string is time-consuming and all that which it is but the thing is when it's when it's being pulled up the side of the chimney you know by marmar tear it and it bangs against something it only busts the string you know like the other school of thought is of a metal construction that's Baltic Baltic to the ladder which when that it's and I am banned the somewhat like that it boasts the bloody ladder you say string is cheaper than brand-new wonders so but it does take a bit of time for time on that's the only problem hey right hey it's going to be just underneath the third rung saw this room for your boots they've just got to be just underneath the third rungs of this room for your boots though if you tie it on well it's amazing oh it gets in where you know it's in the wrong shop because there's no room for you for your feet yeah basically that piece of wood is just to Butler to all the leather off the wall here we are drilling the first all in you know which is is there there isn't all actually though that's just been pointed or so knocking the first dog which will be the the all faster the the Bess of the first ladder as you might say then goes the plug wood which as you can see it don't go in very far you know but it's quite far enough you know it's quite safe and that's what's termed as a dog then I'm going to knock in and no knocking in though the next stage is to the piece of roll please call the washing and it's a piece of about five foot long with a loop spliced on one end as you can see the next stage is to prop up a ladder and climb up it as though you were going up to clean the bedroom window and then about five feet from the top of that ladder you drill another all but in our case the all's already there you drill it overall as plumb and straight above the one below as you can get it and insert another piece of board and then all the dog as you get a bit ire of the oles of a tendency to get a bit deeper I think it's called fear you see the first Lander is is in position and I'm about to tie it onto the bottom dog or the bottom all fast which you know that's where the beer belly comes in handy it sort of run you around the side of the cheek of the ladder onto the wrong round you run the other cheek of the land around the wrong and then background the the wrong bill or and at all which on and that's got it fast it will not come off thing to do also is use as much of the rope up as you can because in a gale the end start to blow a button and the whipping comes off the end of the rope and then you've got one we like a cat-o'-nine-tails end on it you know blowing about in the wind now is the pulley wheel to pull up the next ladder here the next operation is to tie the the ladder to the top dog or the top all fast that you've just knocked in without tying it to the ala draw you know because you sometimes if you've been attention are you're trying to talk somebody who's my during you on the floor they end up wrapping it around you see how easy it will be to wrap it round the knowledge roll you not say that is no the bottom ladder is no firmly fixed and as good as it'll ever be to the wall of the chimney the next operation is to climb up to the top of that ladder and sit to stride the top iron wrong and reach up as far as you can and roll another all in the brickwork which of course it's very easy for me because I've been done this thing about seven times before and used exactly the same holes every time I don't know exactly how far I'm reaching and where I'm going and it's quite an easy operation to keep the wall stack of letters in a in a very straight line if you putting them up when you wander towards one side when you put in the stage in upper that's up and you've got one ladder this may be to fog on the bit sideways and say the other ones come the other way it looks rather in erratic effort at the top you know everything's out of line and o2 squirt now we've drilled the they all approximately five feet above the top of the bottom ladder roots on the pulley wheel no this is where the tricky bit comes in the second ladder is tied on approximately nine wrongs from the top which is about midway and of course when it when it's been pulled up by the lebra or the man down the law we lose more or less our for ladder yeah well the lap which you'll see the reason for this short way the thing is is that when it comes up or the second ladder comes up on the bottom rung of it there are two Russians one of which I'm using know to tie the bottom wrong to the nearest corresponding rung of the ladder that stuck to the wall I've got the other lashing Romanek and the two stinkle Jack hooks which have come up with it as stuck in my belt no that's the secondary sort of safety precaution the one with just a claw bit on the side just in case the that oh that I've got my hand on or the one that the pulleys on if that happens to come out I'd still be in with a chance you nor the the ladder would still be connected which works to the bottom um as you can see is slightly precarious though oh it shakes about bought once you've rushed it to that tofu which is five foot above the bottom ladder you've only got about six rooms above that are standing in free space or what you might go unconnected to the chimney is no possible to all no the pulley wheel and carry it up the backside of the leather a new kid on the top I am wrong while you use one of the dogs that stuck in your belt so you know get another purchase five foot higher up still you see once you've drilled that all and put the dog in you can lift up the pulley wheel onto the dog which of course one end of the rope is still attached to the ladder that you're sat on and then you'll see in a minute were they when I come down and untie that ladder my man at the bottom pulls and up goes the wall 21 pins of the ladder onto the top of the bottom Mada which sounds unbelievably complicated but it is quite a simple operation really in fact it's so simple you can do on a good chimney on a good day well it isn't windy and you don't manage to thump the hell out you're done with Alma right you know I'm gonna be a mess with the armor it's rather painful there goes the pulley wheel down the ladder untie the washing at the top that's old in the top of the other now it all comes loose and flops about in the wind it's the dodgy bit when it's very windy on your 3/4 of the way up and the wind's trying to snap the ladder off sideways it's quite exciting and there's the same very lashing on the side and then finally the one at the bottom when you've released it at the bottom it's at the mercy of the man on the floor and the wind sometimes it's rather awkward when it's very wind in and they and the rather start twisting round the raw you know that's pulling the thing up

Channel: sameoldmatt

Views: 1,097,494

Rating: 4.7993932 out of 5

Keywords: fred dibnah steeplejack, chimney

Id: F04dGK1_wYA

Length: 9min 58sec (598 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 23 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/Jihad_llama]

Love a good bit of Fred Dibnah

[u/behaaki]

"The holes tend to get deeper as you go up. It's called fear."

[u/caseyouponderin]

This is great. As an American, I've been wondering where folks with this from of accent were from...evidently NW England. Love listening to him talk. This post sent me on a 30 minute diversion to

• Steeplejacking
• Bolton
• Lancashire

Thanks for posting

[u/CellosDuetBetter]

Holy hell this is terrifying

[u/Poos_In_Boots]

Fed Dibnah was also an accomplished engineer. His pet building and steam engine projects in his back yard are something to behold.

Some good information here http://www.freddibnahheritagecentre.com/

[u/Fart_Truster]

Love this guy. A proper bloke.

[u/GreedySnoo]

Any part of this guy's narration could be played over Pink Floyd and sound like an original part of the song.

[u/Mackinstyle]

This goes into my category of "fundamentally unsafe things done very well."

[u/StAnonymous]

Why not just attach a permanent ladder up the side of the damn thing?