[Gordon_Taylor]

I've been using wooden ladders for quite a few years  now but they are starting to look a bit weatherd now,  what do you boys who use wooden point ladders use to treat them?

Gordon

[sinbad]

i have just done mine with yacht varnish
£4 from b&q

[Duke]

 ..wooden ladders !... is this some kind of retro thing then. ?..lol..

[Ian_Giles]

Wooden ladders? My god yes! Thats right, in the old days they used to be made of wood

Ian

[Duke]

blimey..I think I seen it on the telly once....carry on film I think it was....lol.....stop it..it hurts..ooooh me guts....

[Gordon_Taylor]

Sorry Duke I did'nt realise I was so funny. My wooden point ladders are the best investment I've ever made, They look profeesional and are professional you want to do a good job then get the right tools.

Gordon

[Ian_Giles]

Nothing wrong with wooden ladders, but a good set of light trade aluminium ladders are better in many respects, ie, lighter (by a mile) longer lasting, more comfortable rungs, less maintenance.
I'm not sure about price, but a double extention ladder (aluminium) can be got for around the £100 mark.
You can pay a lot less to be sure (and a lot more!) but when you drop below the £100 mark you are going down to the D.I.Y stuff, and they are crap for daily use.

Although I no longer use ladders (WFP) I always bought really good quality light trade ladders, the 35ft triple is a bit of a beast, heavy and hard work, but still lighter than the equivalent wooden one. But then you want to be as safe as possible when you are 35 ft up in  the air

Ian

[AuRavelling79]

For the last four years I have bought a DIY small Triple aluminium set from STAX for £80, then added articulated feet and ladder mitts. Use as a double most of the time but add triple for occasional height advantage and when it's a bit windy so's it don't blow over! Square section treads are OK on the feet too!

The 3rd section alone - just swop the ladder mitts - is good for high lower level windows or security cabin windows. I routinely put this on transom bars as the ladder mitts avoid damage and reduce slip to a mimimum.

This is a very light set up but being rated D-I-Y I change it every two years without fail. (last March a customer bought my last set for £20! (sans mitts and articulated feet which I transferred with new rubbers and bolts)

If you use wooden ones don't let the mickey-takers put you off! By the way - do you use twine or tree creeper to tie the rungs to the uprights? (only joking!)

[Duke]

sorry, didn't mean to extract the Michael....just sounded so old fashioned...anyway, if you want to look proffessional...change to WFP  .....perhaps we'll all have to in the not so distant future, especiall those that work alone, for H&S reasons, let alone higher profitability.....a wooden ladder must weigh a ton....wouldn't fancy carting that about all day.

[Gordon_Taylor]

TO BE HONEST THERE NOT THE LIGHT POINT LADDERS IN THE WORLD BUT I USED TO USE ALI OPEN TOPS AND THEY WERE ALWAYS A BIT LIGHT IN THE WIND, i'VE LOOKED AT THE ALI POINTS, I DON'T WHAT IT IS BUT THEY DON'T LOOK AS STRIDY AS WOODEN POINTS, I NOW THEY POSSIBLE ARE AS STIRDY AS WOODEN POINTS BUT IF YOUR NOT 100% CONFIDENT IT WILL NEVER FEEL RIGHT, AND WITH WOODEN AT LEAST YOU CAN HEAR IF THEY ARE GOING TO SNAP, I'VE HEARD SOME HORROR STORYS ABOUT ALI LADDERS SNAPPING.

GORDON

P.S. MIGHT GO OVER TO WFP SOON JUST WANT TO SEE HOW IT ALL WORKS FIRST

[Ian_Giles]

Although I am now WFP, I do have to use my pointer on occasion.............an aluminium one.............15 years old, the rungs are a bit rattly but it has way-outlasted my old wooden ones.
Aluminium ladders will far outlast wooden ones.
If it was an extension ladder I would have replaced it by now

In 30 years of working of ladders I have never known one give out catastrophically, aluminium ones that is.......have seen one of the uprights snap on a wooden one though, fortunately for me someone else was up it at the time