Rain, Gutters, and Gearing Up for a New Cherry Picker Test
It’s day two of my week-long maintenance sprint at Trent College in Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire and the weather has decided to get involved.
With “Storm Benjamin” hovering somewhere over the UK, I pressed on with a full schedule of gutter clearing, outlet checks, and roof walkovers.
Rain I can handle; high winds and ice are a different story. Luckily, today was wet but workable the perfect chance to put some brand-new waterproof gear from Granite Workwear to the test. They’ve kindly supplied all my workwear this season, and today was a proper trial by rain. Spoiler: it passed with flying colours. Dry as a bone, warm all day, and surprisingly comfortable even after hours in the harness.
If you want to see how the day unfolded and how the gear held up in real-world conditions, watch the full video here
The Plan: Keep Moving, Whatever the Weather
There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad preparation. With decent waterproofs (and a slightly cricked neck from a dodgy night’s sleep), I set out to make a proper dent in the workload before the weekend. That’s when I’ll be borrowing the Platform Basket 2095 from Promax Access in Barnsley to test it on the trickiest parts of site and compare it with my current Platform Basket 1890 Pro.
Today’s goals:
- Clear as many gutters as possible while the wind stayed down
- Check key outlets around the sports complex and flat roofs
- Log progress on the site map so we can hit the hard-to-reach areas first when the 2095 arrives
(Want the quick version? Jump straight to the video and see the route, fixes, and gear tests: https://youtu.be/QEUzgRVzQ6I.)
Gear Notes: Dry as a Bone (and Weirdly Cozy Feet)
Rainy days are great for real-world kit tests. I finally got to try my new Granite Workwear coat, and it did not disappoint. By the end of the day I was dry, warm, and if anything overheated. I also broke out a pair of lined, waterproof “ski boots.” Not exactly steel-toe, but for gutter clearing they were ideal. Toasty feet, tick.
Sports Halls, Balls, and the Eternal Gutter Mystery
If you’ve ever maintained a school site, you’ll know the usual suspects: tennis balls and footballs lodging themselves into the most inconvenient outlets known to humankind. Day two officially kicked off my “ball collection” with a gentle promise to my daughter that I’d return with a proper football. (The first year I did these gutters I pulled dozens of balls off the sports hall. This time? Slim pickings. Either I’ve done too good a job over the years or the kids can’t kick as far!)
While I was there, I tackled the flat roof edges and checked the outlets I couldn’t quite reach from the cherry picker yesterday. Solid progress and clearer runs all round.
Design Rant (Friendly): Internal Troughs vs Common Sense
Here’s one for the designers and architects among you. Some sections use an internal trough with the exterior wall forming one side. If it leaks, it leaks down the inside of the building. Why not extend the roof sheet to the edge and fit an external gutter where problems are easier to spot and fix? Tried-and-tested systems exist for a reason external gutters have worked for hundreds of years, from timber to modern profiles. If you’ve got a compelling reason for internal troughs on buildings like this, I’m all ears, drop a comment and educate me!
Field Fix: Loose Gutter, Rotten Fascia
One run had a gutters-coming-loose situation, but the real culprit was a rotten fascia board behind. Until the fascia is replaced, the only sensible fix is a temporary (likely long-term) stabiliser: a couple of carefully placed screws through the gutter into the sturdier sections, to hold the alignment and prevent sagging. Not glamorous, but it stops overflow and buys time for the proper timber replacement.
Progress Check: Mapping the Site and What’s Next
I love a good map. At the end of each day I mark where I’ve been so I can plan tomorrow’s push. Today I covered:
- The sports hall (majority cleared, a little still to do on one side)
- The swimming pool building (outlets and edge checks)
- Adjacent buildings with recently replaced roofs (quick inspections, no issues)
- Several other blocks now ticked off the list
Tomorrow I’ll hook the trailer, head to Barnsley to pick up the Platform Basket 2095, and bring it back for the weekend. Early next week, I’m hoping to thread the machine through a tight doorway into one of the quads the kind of access problem that really separates one cherry picker from another. That’ll make for a cracking comparison with the 1890 Pro.
Conclusion: Rain 0, Gutters 1
Storm Benjamin never truly arrived, but the rain did so we took advantage. Gutters cleared, outlets checked, temporary fix in place, and a solid map update for the big weekend test. If you work on large sites, my advice is simple: plan your routes, prepare for the weather, and tackle the worst offenders early. Your future self will thank you.
If you enjoy real-world maintenance and cherry picker content, you’ll like the video that goes with this write-up, watch it here and say hi in the comments: https://youtu.be/QEUzgRVzQ6I. And if you’ve got insight on that internal trough detail, I’d genuinely love to hear it.
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My workwear is sponsored by Granite Workwear, and all of the clothing I’m wearing in the video can be purchased on their website: https://www.graniteworkwear.com/
