Ladders

Can you provide a link to the type of ladder you are considering buying? Most ladders I've seen don't have any stabilisers but they may have the option to have them fitted - but that doesn't mean that you have to fit them.

Standard triple extension 5m house-roof-reaching models.

Lyte say there are no feet otherwise.

Youngman it's clear in the picture you'd simply put weight on the aluminium tube ends without the stabiliser.

I think the problem is a new standard which is unhelpful and forces me to do something slightly bad.

J> >> I've noticed modern ladders have stabiliser bars which possibly can't

Looking at the Youngman ladders only the aluminium extension ladders have t he stabilisers and they all look secured by a through bolt, which makes sen se if the stabiliser is damaged and you could not remove it the whole ladde r is F**ked. They also sell replacement overboot feet which suggests you ca n temporarily remove the stabilisers and still have a non-slip end at the f oot of the ladder.

You mean the extra wide bar they fit on the bottom where the feet used to be?

As in the photo:

Ah, yup see what you mean - you want to lean the ladder against the house wall, but have a conservatory either side of you and they are only a bit more than a ladder's width apart.

You may find you can buy a set of replacement foot pads along with the ladder, and fit those instead of the bar. e.g:

Well done John -- I, too, was thinking in terms of your conservatory gutters, Jon, and was puzzled.

As for 2nd hand ladders: I would guess you could find some really good ones, because most sellers would just like to get rid of them: ladders take up a lot of space, and they know that [now] they are not going to use them any more :-( Like me :-( :-(

John

I bought a ladder which has this stabiliser bar. The bar was not fitted to the bottom of the ladder when it came, instead there are some temporary feet which I would need to remove to fit the bar. The temporary feet are not very good but might just do. I dislike the ladder and wish I had not bought it, partly because it is a double extension ladder and I can't separate the two parts without cutting a tape which can be used to make the two parts lean against each other to form a triangle.

Make wooden feet that slot into the tube. Use a rubber mat. Standard aerialman technique.

Bill