ladders

[wurm]

I'm just a homeowner who occasionally needs to access the roof of the house, gutters, an occasional high tree limb, etc. Years ago I had a Little Giant that was just a bit too short for most of my purposes, so I sold it and bought a Werner multipurpose that was bigger enough, but like the Little Giant, could be a pain in the putt to move around because while not 'holy crap' heavy, it's heavy. Plus, it's bigger enough and heavier enough that it can be cumbersome to go from step ladder to extension ladder.

A few weeks ago, I hired a guy to come trim some very high branches on some trees at the house. At one point while he was up in a tree, he asked if I would just move his ladder away from the tree. I grabbed it and was amazed at how lightweight it was. It was an aluminum extension ladder and while at full extension it was several feet longer than my Werner, it was about a quarter of the weight of mine.

So my question is, does there exist a lightweight multipurpose ladder that will serve as a general-purpose ladder for a homeowner without breaking the bank? I don't need something that's going to last twenty years because I likely won't. Any personal recommendations?

[Acer]

A 16-foot reach extension ladder (I believe it's two 10's stacked) is light and covers one story very well. You can even take apart the pieces to use the bottom half alone. Bottom half alone weighs almost nothing in that config.

I don't like the little-giant-style ladders because they are so heavy. I keep both an extension ladder and a step ladder. With those two I can do almost anything at my house, and that way I have the best tool for any job, not a clunky do-all thing that I must fight with to match the task.

[testcase]

What is the WEIGHT RATING of each of the ladders in question? Years ago, I bought a 32' heavy duty extension ladder with a rating of 350 pounds (iirc) so, that is one heavy sucker! I've seen some fiberglass ladders and, was amazed at how heavy they were. I would expect a "tree guy" to have a HD rated ladder but, you never know. Bottom line, there's still no free lunch so, make sure you're comparing "apples to apples". :oldfogey:

[JoeH]

Acer wrote:
A 16-foot reach extension ladder (I believe it's two 10's stacked),,,

The way they list extension ladders is by the total length of the sections. So a 16 foot extension ladder will be two 8 foot sections. Minimum overlap is about 2-3 feet, that gives a maximum extension of approximately 14 feet. At the proper angle that will just about high enough to work on gutters, etc that are 10-12' off the ground.

Weight limit was mentioned by testcase. That makes a big difference in weight of the ladder. You mentioned the guy with his light weight ladder, that was probably rated for 200-225 lbs as compared to the 300 lb rating for the Werner and Little Giant multi ladders.

As for the tree guy, I have seen many such workers who skimped on the load rating of their equipment. It might be more convenient and cost less to begin with, but they often need to replace their ladders more often or get hurt when something fails.

[OWC Jamie]

Don't buy a lightweight extension ladder. They are awful to be on. I have one. I only use it every now and then because my HD ones are stored more securely. My tallest step ladder reaches just about all the gutters I need to reach. I have an articulated ladder and it is heavy but it has its uses.

[wurm]

Hmmm..thanks for the info. What was interesting about the tree guy was that pretty much all he used the ladder for was to get high enough up the tree to get his rigging squared away. I should have taken pictures. BTW, he showed up on time, did a great job and was very reasonable.

[Dennis S]

I agree with billb about the lightweight ones. I'm 210 pounds and bought a 200 pound rated one and doubt if I'll ever use it again over 8 feet. It doesn't instill confidence. Home Depot had a pretty good selection when I was there last, but I didn't look at them close.