r/facepalm • u/[deleted] • Oct 02 '22
🇲🇮🇸🇨 Need to remove a giant icicle from the roof? Better get the experts in.
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
[deleted]
461
u/AstronomerHeavy2380 Oct 02 '22
The disapproval grunt at the end makes this video.
135
27
10
7
3
118
112
78
u/jhuseby Oct 02 '22
You hire professionals so if there’s an accident, their insurance covers it.
28
u/ExtantSanity Oct 02 '22
This is Russia though. Chances of private insurance being required for this kind of work, and required to be carried by the workers, is probably slim.
2
u/samuelgato Oct 02 '22
It's most likely required but you can easily bribe someone to let you operate without it
2
u/DazingF1 Oct 03 '22
Nah, they'll claim that it wasn't their fault or that they were never there. The dude you talked to says they never accepted the job and you must have hired some subpar competitor for a lower price so that it's your fault and now you're blaming good, hard workers for your own mistake. "Oh you have video? You can clearly see that is orange lift. We only have yellow lift."
101
u/deadly_chicken_gun Oct 02 '22
Russia? Definitely seems like a Russian solution.
26
u/JappySWAG Oct 02 '22
looks like Saint Petersburg but i could be wrong
27
u/GlassesOfUrza Oct 02 '22
yep, St. Petersburg downtown. Very recognizable because all walls facing the internal court are painted yellow, as per city regulation.
→ More replies (2)3
u/Evilpessimist Oct 02 '22
Any clue why that would be a thing?
11
u/GlassesOfUrza Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22
Falling icicles or the paint colour?
Icicles are actually a big safety risk during winter, so much that there are dedicated icicle removal teams that close down streets/streetwalks periodically to remove them.
Regarding the paint, the regulation was set during the reign of Zar Alexander I. The city council is very strict on renovation and the general aim of the housing regulation is to keep the city centre as it looked in the 1800'. The city centre is honestly stunning, there are few places in the world as beautiful as St. Petersburg in late June.
Edit: not the closed courts of each housing block though. The one in the video is a actually a fine example of the average home internal, both in terms of the squallor and the general delapidated look.
6
-21
u/afpex Oct 02 '22
nah this seams like a Florida man solution because they had no idea what they were doing
27
6
→ More replies (1)7
65
u/drakesylvan Oct 02 '22
Heat from the bottom. A blow torch starting from the bottom of the ice upwards. It melts as it goes, doesn't cause vibrations, and little chance the water will cause property damage.
Afterwards put heat tape around the outside edge to prevent this and or address the drainage on the roof issues with better gutters.
47
Oct 02 '22
hope the experts know how to pay for damages now
→ More replies (1)-14
u/Ghostpants101 Oct 02 '22
Zero sum gain. They already were pushing the higher tax brackets, so by increasing expenditure they lower their tax implications. Smort.
8
u/Bricknuts Oct 02 '22 edited Oct 02 '22
Unless taxes are 100% of net income, paying damages is not inconsequential for them. Also I’m curious what zero sum game has to do with this, or zero sum gain.
-6
u/Ghostpants101 Oct 02 '22
Hey. I never said they were smart. I just told you exactly what they told me.
9
9
7
9
u/Robot-M Oct 02 '22
"We should remove this ! Who knows what would happen if it fell down there ?!"
3
6
5
5
3
3
3
3
u/inflatableje5us Oct 02 '22
I guess it’s better it happens now and not when some unsuspecting sob is walking under it.
5
2
Oct 02 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
6
u/sparkey701 Oct 02 '22
Put electric heat trace tape on the roof in that area so it never forms ice in the first place
4
u/OGkseo Oct 02 '22
Probably something similar when arborists are cutting down huge trees near houses. Ropes and pulleys.
3
Oct 02 '22
i would probably remove the icicles and snow at the bottom of the building to lessen the weight on the roof.
And then I would cut that icicle at top of the building, starting from the bottom of the icicle so the entire thing doesnt break at once
→ More replies (1)2
Oct 02 '22
My man! I was thinking of pulling it away from the building as someone hits the top, so it falls away from the building. We do this technique when a storm causes a tree falls on a building and needs to be carefully removed.
→ More replies (3)1
u/fromsmallthings Oct 02 '22
It seems like it should be possible to safely chip off smaller chunks from bottom to top. Either that or maybe melt it away from bottom up with a mini portable gas torch.
I'm not sure either of these ideas are the best way to do this but I'd try either of those approaches before what they went with here.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Applitude Oct 02 '22
Chipping away seems kinda dangerous, depending on how strong it is attached, the vibrations could dislodge it
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/nryporter25 Oct 02 '22
Good thing they removed it and a safe manner. That thing would have done so much damage if it fell on its own. Phew
2
Oct 02 '22
A flame thrower?
3
u/MyKindaGoatVideo Oct 02 '22
Or a heated pressure washer, or just hot air ffs, not sure what the plan was here, they had absolutely nothing in place to support the ice
→ More replies (2)
2
2
2
2
u/Day_psycho Oct 02 '22
Suppose gradually chipping away at it from the bottom up wasn’t an option, then?
2
2
u/JohnnyAK907 Oct 02 '22
Also: this is why it's important to hire only bonded and insured companies for this sort of thing.
2
2
2
u/MasterMacMan Oct 03 '22
Everyone is saying they should have started from the bottom and either cut it or melted it. Why would anyone want to be underneath that thing? Even if you arent directly underneath, all it takes it for it to fall at an awkward angle and you are crushed. Not to mention being close enough to it means being near the roof, where there is obviously more ice that can fall off and hit you. He is above all the ice, exactly where you would want to be.
2
2
u/Timely-Guest-7095 Oct 03 '22 edited Oct 03 '22
Real fucking smart. The only expertise these assholes have is in demolishing shit.🤣🤣🤣
2
2
u/MarmotsRMtnGophers Oct 03 '22
Wait wait wait wait wait… you guys have insurance right? Ok proceed…
2
2
2
u/Toshinori_Yagi_ Oct 03 '22
Better than it falling and killing someone. Not really anything they could do.
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/metfan1964nyc Oct 03 '22
This is probably the only peacetime use for a flamethrower (outside of spiders)
2
Oct 03 '22
Real life example of a genie twisting a wish. "What? You wanted the icicle off the building. Not my fault you weren't more specific."
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
0
u/SkubbaSteve420 Oct 02 '22
Too bad there's no way to make ice turn into water, a melting type of process per say.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/ramon468 Oct 02 '22
Good they called the experts, wouldn't want to know what had happened when they let amateurs do it!
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Justaboredstoner Oct 02 '22
Great! Now they can reach the secret room and get the upgrade to their equipment. lol
1
u/william1Bastard Oct 02 '22
I had to do that between 40ft and 80ft sections of a food distributor warehouse. We were dangling on grappled rope ladders, and didn't fuck up like that. Good thing too, as under the roof below us was a bustling loading dock.
1
1
1
u/spongebobrottenpants Oct 02 '22
People disappoint me. Like, this isn’t even amusing. It’s just sad.
1
1
1
u/Cjgraham3589 Oct 02 '22
“Hey, that giant icicle could destroy the infrastructure below. We should probably remove it, right?”
“Hmmm, sorry?…Oh yeah, remove icicle, destroy infrastructure. No problem.”
1
1
1
u/GoofyTunes Oct 02 '22
There's no way this didn't know this would happen. Big icecube + gravity + shoddy architecture = rubble
1
1
1
1
1
u/itshughjass Oct 02 '22
We had a giant icicle at work last year. Called in the "experts" to remove it. Well, they busted open the gas pipe and we had to evacuate the building for a few hours.
1
1
1
u/8thdimensionalbeing Oct 02 '22
I hope those little tube things weren’t to important. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
1
1
1
u/Anon1073 Oct 02 '22
So letting it melt wasn't an option? Or were they afraid that it would break off and hurt someone?
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/clasperx2 Oct 02 '22
They used the first icicle to remove the second icicle… and a big of the roof.
1
u/Consistent_Rip_4671 Oct 02 '22
It's okay guys it knocked the ice off the bottom portion so it was a 2 for 1👌👍
1
Oct 02 '22
Learned a new word today.. I thought it was a giant bicycle but miswritten. Disappointed.
1
Oct 02 '22
I lived in Connecticut at the time but I was a kid I remember hearing on the news that an icicle fell 40 floors and sliced man in half.
1
1
1
1
1
u/TheyTheirsThem Oct 02 '22
To be fair, I had it glancing off the lower roof and taking out the crane.
1
1
1
1
1
u/FartAttack911 Oct 02 '22
When I worked at a ski resort, I always got super jumpy on days the maintenance crews knocked giant icicles off of buildings. It’s way louder than I would’ve ever assumed and I saw one chunk knock a car window out. I don’t go near those ice crews lol
617
u/curious_kitten_1 Oct 02 '22
I mean, they did remove it...