System for supporting a ladder in upright orientation

A ladder supporting system in combination with a building having an exterior mounting surface and in combination with a ladder comprising two rails and a plurality of rungs spanning between the rails at spaced positions for supporting the ladder in an upright orientation relative to the exterior mounting surface at a prescribed angle from vertical, the system comprising:

• a channel mounted to extend in a longitudinal direction of the channel horizontally across the external mounting surface of the building, the channel comprising a backside sheet mounted against the external mounting surface of the building, a bottom wall protruding from the backside sheet, a lower front wall extending upwardly from the bottom wall at a location spaced outwardly from the backside sheet, a top wall protruding from the backside sheet above the bottom wall, and an upper front wall extending downwardly from the top wall so as to define a longitudinal slot in the channel at a front side of the channel opposite from the backside sheet between the upper and lower front walls;
• a wheel assembly comprising a plurality of wheels supported within the channel such that the wheels are confined within the channel and such that the wheel assembly is movable in the longitudinal direction of the channel by rolling movement of the wheels along the channel;
• a holding device located outside the channel and adjacent to the front side of the channel, the holding device being connected to the wheel assembly through the longitudinal slot in the front side of the channel such that the holding device is movable in the longitudinal direction of the channel together with the wheel assembly;
• the holding device comprising:
• (i) two arms, each arm extending outwardly of the channel from an inner end of the arm supported on the wheel assembly within the channel to an outer end of the arm at an exterior of the channel;
• (ii) two brackets supported on the outer ends of the two arms respectively;
• and
• (iii) a bar connected to the two arms, the bar extending across a rear side of the ladder between the two rails of the ladder and the bar engaging the rear side of the ladder;
• each bracket being movable relative to the respective arm and being operable to receive a respective one of the two rails of the ladder fixedly clamped therein such that the ladder is clamped between the bar and the two brackets and such that the ladder is supported at the prescribed angle from vertical.