Sounds like you have balls of steel!
i lost my 40 ft ladder one day putting up Christmas lites…left it leaning against gutter,once it starts to go theres not a chance to even try to stop it, thank God it fell and hit just the sidewalk…i cancel if its windy, or rainy, or too cold, customers understand.
In no way am i trying to brag, i was freaking out!
I was doing a commercial office building several years ago, windows in/out. It had skylights on it and the only way to do them,(I thought) was to ladder up to a carport over a loading ramp. Once I was up, I pulled my 28ft ladder up the carport and then laddered up to the roof from there. Flat roof but probably 35 ft up.
Once I was up there I went about my business cleaning. Soon after I hear a very load BOOM, CRASH! Umm, uh oh! I ran over to see the wind had blown my ladder not just over but completely off the carport to the ground below. Thank God no one has down there and no trucks or cars were either. Bent my ladder up pretty good too.
The next problem was uh, how am I going to get down now? Well there was a roof access after all. It was amazingly unlocked ,so I opened it up and called for help until someone came over. They were pretty much looking at me like I was insane. I explained what happened and they understood. They got me a step ladder so I could climb down.
Dont think Ill do that again. The trade off for getting older is you hopefully become wiser. So, canceling due to high winds is not wimping out. Its just smart. No window is worth dying over.
I don’t mean to laugh, but that was pretty funny.
(I guess we’ve all been there)
A few years back I was laddering a commercial 3 story with a 40’ ladder. Had about 6 windows to go when the wind kicked up. I completed the last few with some discomfort. When I finished the wind was strong enough to blow the ladder over if I let g. I started to lower it against the building when one of the standoff pads peeled off. Got down to near the 2nd floor windows and could no longer lower it against the building for fear of scratching the glass. Each time I tipped it away from the building the wind wanted to take it down (Cars parked right behind me). I couldn’t even let go the ladder. So I phoned a friend and stood there holding the ladder for 20 minutes till he got there to help me lower it without it hitting the ground or a parked car. Now I do that job on weekends when the parking lot is empty, and have stopped mid way to return later when the wind is down.
One of the reasons I chose this great vocation/vacation is for the windy days. If it’s windy enough to go windsurfing or kite surfing that’s good enough for me. Whats more most of my customers know that I’ll be out on the water if there’s good wind. Every day is good for something!!!
If I see the tops of the trees move quite a bit, I reschedule. Whenever a forecast is rain and wind, usually customers are called to reschedule on a safer day.
Had to cancel 3 story apartment building (all jobs were 3rd floor!) part way through yesterday and today. High winds and gusts up to 25mph! Yesterday everytime I tried to do a new ladder placement I fought with the wind to keep the ladder from toppling over. It is no different this morning. Where severe injury or death is imminent I take the day off. Good day for dropping off door hangers. What do you do on high wind days?
80 mph. That’s where I’m at. 80
80? HAHAHA They even close the Skyway Bridge here in the Tampa Bay area at 40 mph. Palm trees are swaying I’m staying on the ground.
Lol
Haim’s so baddass, he climbs to the roof and defiantly shakes his fist at funnel clouds. 
I’m glad this thread got bumped. Good information and advice.
I usually call it quits when the sky looks like this:
A little bit of non-stop wind for a day or two and a whole lot of dust makes it impossible to clean windows.
I wouldn’t get anything done if I didn’t work when winds were 20-25 mph. I can’t recall a day I took off due to wind. There may be a day I wanted off, so I blamed it on wind, and went fishing.
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I will work as long as my narrow *** won’t blow away!! which is about 35-40 mph.
Side note I think this post is #2500…Diamond Squeegee!!!
[FONT=Helvetica]Saturday near my house.
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Over here we are not allowed to operate lifts in winds more than 12 meters per second which is pretty close to 25mph, The same is also true for all rope work. As for ladders falling down when you have used the ladder to access a roof and left it, this is kinda silly. I think the first thing i learned when using a ladder to access a roof was to use elastic strap to hold it in place, its just common sense.
