Creaking Ali Extension Ladder

[Andrew]

Youngmans box-section ally ladders are the best IMHO.

Very resistant to bowing or sideways movement.

[Roger Hayter]

Oh good! One less thing to worry about. I shall stick to worrying whether the rusty steel brackets the upper extension slides in will break. Can you exclude that possibility?

[newshound]

Peening is a completely different technique.

[Dave Liquorice]

Can old timber ladders. A rung snaps underfoot, you drop to the next one which snaps and so on. Except every third or fourth rung has a length of thick wire under it with each end preened over a washer on the outside of the rail.

Yep, the sliding brackets on my ladder are ali. B-)

[Andy Burns]

I inherited a two section wooden ladder with this house, bloke was getting on and probably didn't deem it worth dragging all the way to Devon) it had probably spent most of its life outdoors, once day a rung snapped, thankfully there was no chain reaction ... I put a circular saw straight through the rest of the ladder and bought an aluminium one, yes it creaks but so what?

[Dave Liquorice]

Thanks Bill, will have to see if there is suitable lump of oak or beech in the log pile. And add another disc to the stack of roundtuits. B-)

I don't use it that often and it doesn't have any sideways wibble or flex unduly. It just creaks and as I'm currently using it inside(*) the creaks seem far louder than I remember and are mildly annoying.

(*) Painting a stair well with the first floor ceiling 18' (5.5 m) above the ground floor floor.

[williamwright]

And as Newshound says, when you've done put the ladder on its side and bash the ends of the rungs. Then do the other side.

Bill

[williamwright]

No, I've heard of them breaking. It generally results in severe injury or death, I'm told.

Bill

[williamwright]

Funnily enough I did climb a rotten wooden ladder the other day (on a playhouse) and a rung snapped, but the next one down didn't.

Bill

[williamwright]

Of course ladders are classified according to the intended use. You have to get the appropriate one.

Bill

[Roger Hayter]

Do you regularly do ultrasound tests to exclude fatigue cracks?

[Roger Hayter]

Ok.

[John Rumm]

I can't say that particular failure mode has ever worried me - although there are some others that have!

There was one time I climbed a cheap 2 section "DIY rated"[1] extending ladder with I section rails. About half way up I thought, this does not feel good, and, not doing this again! It was not designed for my weight and it felt very sketchy. I suspect if it failed it would have just buckle sideways - since there was way too much sway side to side while climbing.

[1] This was back in the days before all ladders came under BS EN131, and there were some domestic ones rated with a total working limit of only 95kg compared to the 150kg minimum of modern ladders.