So I replaced the trim on my shed this morning, it was old plywood, warped and weathered. I got it all done and was well lathered in sweat and ready for a shower. My wife asks me if I can put 3 things in the attic before I get a shower, makes sense it is hot up there. So I grab this small desk and carry it up. My attic is dark, 1 light and it does a piss poor job at that. So I pick a spot to put the desk and head there. Of course I put my left foot in the 1 spot where I don't have osb covering it. Down I go, thankfully holding the desk upside down by the legs. My left legs goes through sheetrock and I slam the left backside of my ribcage into a joist. I tightentened my grip on the desk and rattle my left pinky and ring pretty good when they slid down the leg and the top of the desk stops me from going any further. Fortunately I didn't fall the 10'+ down to the cement garage floor. Could be worse, but I think I'm going to run a couple extra lights up there before I even bother fixing the sheetrock. Do one thing on the honey-doo list and add 2 more.

Count your blessings...that could have ended much worse!

I'm glad you're sore but all right and able to type about it...yikes

Been there, done that many years ago. Stepped off one of the joists and through the sheetrock ceiling in the living room. Did all the patch work, and then laid OSB boards over the entire attic. Well screwed down, too.

Glad you're alright. Put me up on the list of folks that have done the same thing.

Was running CAT5 cable in the attic and mis-stepped. Foot went right through up to the knee, luckily I was able to grab a joist before I went all the way through.

Worst part was moving all the furniture and tchotchkes out of the way so I could do the repairs. And my friend never letting me forget what I did cause he was helping me at the time. Damn witnesses.

quote:

Originally posted by Chach:
my friend never letting me forget what I did cause he was helping me at the time. Damn witnesses.

This is why we never leave witnesses alive.

The little battery operated self sticking LED lights work great for that. I have half a dozen in the attic, glued to the rafters. Push them on, push them off. A buck apiece.

Happens in the residential a/c industry a good bit, at least where air handlers are in the attic.

Buddy told a time he was on a service call, working on the air handler, needless to say he went through the ceiling into the customer's living room.

Wife was on the phone, she says "I'll call you back girl, a man just fell through my roof"

I always laugh thinking how evenly she reacted.

Glad your ok.

I'm also glad to hear I'm not the only clutz that breaks 2 things trying to fix one...

I did it too. Right leg went through to the hip in the hallway and right elbow went through into the bathroom. I was hung up on an interior wall below. Ended up with a broken thumb on my left hand of all things. Still not sure how I did that.

Had a friend lose his wife to falling through the sheetrock between joists and 14 feet to the garage floor below. She wasn't yet 50. Nobody else home, one of the kids found her when they hit the garage door opener to pull in after school.

Glad you're ok. The real slam for me is that we would probably never use that desk again. All for naught.

I've crawled around in thousands of attics. I only had one mishap. Working in historical remodel. Crawling through attic on a plank. Didn't check if plank was nailed down or not. Reached the end of the plank, it was not nailed down. Felt it start to "teeter-totter" on me. Stepped on to trusses directly, but I guess a fraction of a fraction of a second too late.

Two seconds later crash, the entire ceiling fell down into the bedroom below. It was plaster with two layers of drywall screwed to the bottom of it.

Went outside lit a cigarette up and called the project manager up. I was so embarrassed and really didn't want to get in trouble at work. He said don't worry we were going to demo the ceiling in a few days, thanks for the help. I still left early that day, that freaked me out.

I might have saved someone from getting seriously injured I'm sure the ceiling weighed over 1,000lbs.

Glad I'm not the only one who does this kind of crap. I'm surprised my side doesn't hurt more, it' the knee that didn't go through the ceiling that hurts, not sure what it scraped against when I went down. Off to get some sheetrock and lights. I think I may just wire an oulet off the 1 light by the door and run string lights across the peak to either side.

The bruises will heal faster than your pride

My Dad stepped thru the ceiling drywall in my Garage years ago. It was about 5 minutes after we just finished blowing insulation in the entire attic. Luckily he didn't hit the ground and was able to get back up. He felt terrible there was insulation ALL over the garage and everything in it. I couldn't be upset since he spent the day helping me. I still have yet to completely fix the ceiling.....

And you want to walk through air houses at work...

Couldn't read the whole post after I mentally went ouch.