Long ladder - a way to help keep the top of it in place

[michael adams]

Regardless of whether the ladder is wood or aluminium if you've got both hands on the stiles at either side and your foot slips for whatever reason, your legs and body will naturally fall between the stiles until you slide down onto a sound rung.

If your foot slips while you've got one hand on a rung and are in the process of moving the other hand up to the next rung up then your body and legs supported by only the one hand may fall sideways outside of the stiles, making recovery more difficult, and if the ladder is unsupported, the shift in weight could pull it over.

Just a thought.

michael adams

...

[Mr Fuxit]

Your body weight is kept closer to the ladder when your hands are on the stiles. (Nelson's seamen were taught to hold the shrouds, NOT the ratlines, for safety)

[dennis]

All the wooden ladders I have used had metal wire running under the rungs. They hold the ladder together and catch you if the wood breaks. I would have thought they are all made like that.

[Nightjar]

On 12/09/2014 19:29, Dennis@home wrote: ...

Many used to just rely upon a wedge driven into a slot in the end of each rung. Even if you do have a metal strut, they are not under every rung and if water gets trapped around them where they pass through the stile, they can rust away invisibly.

[polygonum]

Not sure, but I don't remember a single one that had such a wire under every rung. Under a few, yes, certainly.

[Bill Wright]

Blah de blah . . .

For God's sake man, he means to do it as an experiment when your feet are 2" off the ground.

Bill

[Lobster]

On 11 Sep 2014, "James Harris" grunted:

I have a LadderMax

and also a LadderMat both of which are very good. Maybe use either or both in conjuction with one of the other solutions mentioned?

Neither prevent a ladder from falling, but they do make it a lot more stable.

[charles]

but not ALL rungs, surely?

[Bill Wright]

Wooden ladders are a no-no, except the ones on building sites that are in new condition and very substantial. Wooden ladders offered by domestic customers as a means of entering the loft or whatever are to be avoided.

I like to have at least one good grip on a rung. The other thing is, I always have three points of contact. Accidents on ladders, like accidents on the road, tend to occur when people aren't paying attention.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

Proper builders' ones certainly do. Others might not. Some wooden ladders are like family heirlooms, offered to tradesmen on the grounds that they have been in use since 1850 and haven't broken yet. These are to be avoided.

Bill

[michael adams]

If you've always got three points of contact, each foot and one hand on a rung, then you can't be moving very fast up the ladder then can you ? In fact you can't be moving very fast in any direction.

When climbing a ladder only one foot is resting on a tread at any one time. If gripping the rungs, then only one foot and one hand is in contact with the ladder at any one time.

If you're climbing a ladder and are unfortunate to be hit in the face by falling masonry, loose mortar, or are shat in the face by say a pigeon, never mind broken rungs on wooden ladders or feet slipping, if you have both hands on the stiles at the time then you will naturally fall between the stiles where you will be able to recover your footing.

If in the other hand you only have one hand on a rung in the same circumstances then you could well end up swinging around like a monkey hanging from a branch of a treee and if the ladder isn't secured at the top, pulling it over in the process.

Indeed so.

michael adams

...

[michael adams]

Not when actually climbing the ladder. Whichever ever grip you use the top of your body needs to be sufficiently clear of the ladder to allow enough room for your knees to flex to place your foot on the next rung.

Fred Dibnah mainly climbed vertical ladders and if you watch him he leaned right back when climbing, keeping his legs in front oh him rather than climbing the ladder crab fashion. As doing so for any length of time would probably wreck your knees or some other joints.

Where holding the stiles comes into play is when things go wrong where the bodyweight will naturally fall between the stiles, and fall tight against the ladder.

michael adams

...

[Nightjar]

If you do that, you are not following the Health and Safety Executive's recommendations on the safe use of ladders. As Bill says, you must have three points of contact at all times.

[Nightjar]

In that height it would be pointless. You would need to do it at sufficient height that you drop and take the weight fully on your hands, which would probably be more than the 18" fall that left my late father with a permanent limp.

[tony sayer]

Colin..

If your climbing a ladder that duff that hasn't been inspected or it is that old then more fool the person who is climbing it.

Some wooden ladders do have a wire support under most of the rungs but even so if its bad enough to break a rung it should be taken out of service.

Thats what bonfires are for;!..

As to try to see if you can hang on, best practised at around 2 feet where your better off finding out the easy way rather than at height....

[tony sayer]

Clenched buttocks around the stiles was it;?)..

Yess .. old churches and other Ecclesiastical buildings rely too much on the belief that God will look after you;!!..

Indeed....

>

[tony sayer]

In article , michael adams scribeth thus

If you are using the rungs and doing it right then one hand is round a rung all the time you don't take both hands off at all.

Also remember when transitioning the sections of a double or triple ladder the stiles will be rather awkward to hold, the rungs not so.

Much better to take your weight than hands around the stiles.

For gawd's sake get a grip man;-!....

[michael adams]

Exactly ! But please don't quote my post out of context.

I'm not suggesting that, but pointing out, that that is exactly what Bill is suggesting.

Exactly. So perhaps you could explain how Bill, with one hand on one rung and two feet planted firmly on other rungs - his three points of contact - can ever manage to climb a ladder in the first place ?

In order to climb the ladder its necessary to take one foot off a rung, thus breaking contact in order to move it onto another rung.

michael adams

...

[fred]

In article , tony sayer writes

CB allegedly to keep the lower rungs from getting slippery :-/

[Andrew Gabriel]

You move just one hand or one foot at a time to the next rung.

That's fine, whilst holding on with both hands.

There is no reason to be moving fast up or down a ladder, but you can move at reasonable speed keeping 3 points of contact.