Any ideas on how to hold soffit by myself

[peternap]

This is getting interesting. Not only am I doing a type of building I've never done before....but I'm doing it by myself.

Now I've put soffit on many times, but always with a helper. How am I going to hold that floppy thing in place until I nail it?
Ideas please.....

[PEG688]

Not enought info to giude you. What type of material , how wide, how long???  And how far off the ground, do you have staging ? or will it all be done off a ladder?? 

  Maybe others can do a "Vulcan Mind meld"  with you I could but your brain couldn't take it 

[peternap]

Hardboard, 16' long. 20' up on a ladder although I can put up the walkboard on ladder jacks.

[glenn kangiser]

Crimoney PEG -- Wanna do the Vulcan Mind Meld with me? 

[glenn kangiser]

OK Peter -- got you covered -- maybe.

I assume fairly light and limber as my .. hmm ... dogs tail.

It would require setting the ladder up twice -- first go up with a pair of c-clamp vise grips and a light snatch block with a rope in it - about double the height to the eaves so both ends will reach the ground.  Clamp the snatch block to the framing 16 feet over - center destination of the end of the soffit material.  Back down the ladder and hook the material to another clamp and end of the rope.  Pull it up and tie it off.

Set your ladder up about 12 feet over -or 4 feet from the first end -opposite the hanging soffit- climb the ladder and either pull the material up with another rope on the end you will be at or pull it up with you - put it on your head as you get closer etc.

Also depends on your strength and abilities.  That is a way I might try it though.

[glenn kangiser]

...and if you fall off and get hurt I didn't tell you to do that...

[PEG688]

Hardboard,


16' long.

20' up on a ladder although I can put up the walkboard on ladder jacks.

Hardboard Hardi plank

Hardi only comes in 12' lengths , so maybe Hardboard is a LP product??

How wide 8" , 10" , 12"

Does one "board " cover the whole soffit?

Any venting / vents??

Ladder jacks suck , I'm used to staging and I'd not like to work off ladder jacks 20' up YMMV.


  If it's cement board,  IMO , you'll need a helper , the crap is to heavy and flimsily / weak for one  guy to carry up a ladder and install. I would snap under it's own weight.   

If it's a lighter LP composite product and you could put a cleat on the wall a little wider than the product is thick tacked to the side wall . You could climb the ladder with the stock , slide it up the wall , so you'd be in the center of the 16 ' length , then engage the piece into that groove , under the nailer , and over the temp cleats , with I would space out so a flat bar could be used to pry the stock over tight against the facia board. 


  And Glenn , no way  , your mind is way to sinister and large  It would be to dark for me   

[glenn kangiser]

Awww, shucks. 

[John_M]

Any interest in a vinyl soffit material.  It is maintenace free, looks great and can very easily be installed by one person!!  Something to consider if you are by yourself!

That is what I used here:

[Redoverfarm]

Peg beat me to that suggestion of cleats. He must have some mind reading capabilities.  If it does not mess up your wall then temporarily fastening a couple of 2X2 or 2X4 flat against the wall spaced out about 4' apart will allow one side to be slid in the groove(cavity created between 2X4 blocks and and plate tha the rafters are setting on).  Then once you had a couple of nails 4'  apart that would hold you until you got the ladder moved to nail another location.  Have you already installed the facia board or rake board? If not then as glenn recommended temporarily fasten 2X2" block to hold one end of a quick grip to draw the outside edge up

[peternap]

Thanks Guys!

I took a little of all answers and think I found a solution. It's too floppy to try just a cleat so I made some clampy things and screwed them into a short 2x4 deadman. The deadman can slide in the clamps.

The clamps attach the deadman to 2 ladder rungs and  I will use 3 ladders, 2 with clamps and one on the end. I'll try to walk it up the center ladder and loop it over the deadman, do the same on the end ladder and nail from the last ladder.

What a pain!

And...No the facia isn't on yet. I've always used a gauge block to set the lip on it so it had to go on after the soffit.

[Redoverfarm]

Peter it is amazing what you can do by yourself when you have to.  I am constantly making jigs for this or that to replace an extra set of hands.  The only draw back is that it is time consuming.  I am sure that you would have came up with something doable but it is always good to get ideas to speed the thought process up.