Ladders

I've only used one in a school (so presume it was a commercial, rather than domestic rated one) I'm no lightweight, but it felt quite sturdy, even at the double-height of a hall.

The ones I've used have been solid but heavy. Saw someone using a set of these:

Previous discussion

Thanks. I suspect it's something I should buy either from a real shop or somewhere with a good returns policy ...

I've found this style of ladder to be very useful. 150kg is heavy duty industrial use.

the 4 section folding ones are more versatile IME

NT

I bought my extending ladder from Lansford, happy with it, I see they have a telescopic one too ...

Having used them for many years I'd say that they are only justified if you have to store the ladder in the boot of a car or carry it though a 'sensitive' building. They are a bit of a faff for constant use. We use 2m triples a lot. They are very versatile. They go up to 5m. When one of our 4m double ladders gets a bit tired we have sometimes cut it down. It will then make a serviceable short ladder. If the rungs are a bit loose hammer a spike (a round wedge?) into the ends to tighten them.

Bill

Chinese junk and I have the three lengths......steps are too far apart for safety and the are flimsy when fully extended ........

I have a 7 rung set of these

and find them very robust and solid-feeling.

Chris

Thank you! [bookmarked]

Thanks, but £242 is a bit steep(!) for me.

They *might* be ok but there are ones that look exactly like that, complete with EN131 stickers and a certificate of conformity that in reality 'flex like f*ck' with just 60kg of wife on them and on collapsing for storage are primed for crush injuries or much worse of the digits.

I feel far safer on some 1970's era aluminium ladders that are a bastard to transport when you do not have any possibility of fitting a roof rack.

Yes, I was a bit wary of getting fingers trapped in the one I used, maybe that was just non-familiarity with it, and how it works.

:o(

The thought had occurred. There are some very cheap ones on eBay that look right and supposedly have 150kg limits, but cost very little.

I have a set of extending aluminium ones which are fine for what they are but are unsuitable for what I need, especially for use inside the house.

Huge explained on 19/02/2018 :

I seem to remember that one retail company had to clear their shelves and refund purchasers after many of the telescopic ladders were found to be unsafe, fakes, didn't meet design specs..

We've had one for 15 years at my daughter's flat. Definitely strong enough but can be a pain to slide the sections back, they can trap fingers and the catches get stiff, so one side releases and the other doesn't. The friction from one starting to collapse and the other still locked seizes up the motion and makes the other side catch impossible to operate until that section is extended again.

It's advantage of small storage space overweighs the difficulties.

AJH