# Wooden Ladders?



## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

Does PAINTtalk advocate the use of wooden ladders? Asking for a friend.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

I would assume the membership, in general would not. I would assume in some scenarios they'd be fine. I've used them god knows how many times. Is this a rhetorical question?


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## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

Wildbill7145 said:


> I would assume the membership, in general would not. I would assume in some scenarios they'd be fine. I've used them god knows how many times. Is this a rhetorical question?



It will always be funny to me.


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## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

O
ive had my little 4 step woody for as long as I can remember. Can't kill the thing..


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## Joe67 (Aug 12, 2016)

I've got one in the garage. I don't ever work off of that rickety thing. Just use it to step up a couple / few feet to get stuff down from the rafters (while I hold onto something...) But have also had it for as long I can remember and maybe just haven't killed it because I don't trust it enough to try. This is a 5'. My equivalent worksite step is a Werner 300lb 4' (even tho I only weigh just a little past a buck fifty).

[Clarification P.S. Edit] I was thinking exclusively in terms of short steps. You couldn't pay me enough to get on a wooden ladder past 4-5'


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Same. Fiberglass all around. Wife keeps a 2' wood step around for around the house stuff. I hate the thing.

I call the old wooden ladders widow makers depending on whether or not they've been taken care of.


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## Fman (Aug 20, 2011)

I inherited a 5' wood step ladder on a job, cleaned it up, tightened the rungs and spar varnished it so it could ride atop the station wagon I was working out of at the time. It worked out well, held up and no one liked to steal/borrow it like they would a nice fiberglass one. Now, back at the house I got a 6' wooden, Type 1A that I got _REAL _cheap close to 30 years ago when a home center went out of business. Not sure if it's _rated_ 300 pounds or *WEIGHS* 300 pounds. I don't want to take it anywhere- even out of the basement.


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## Vinyl 54X (Mar 12, 2019)

Ever have somebody from another trade grab your ladder when you are not looking and try to use the apron as a step. Never good but sometimes funny.


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## Masterwork (Sep 13, 2020)

You can't get those in Canada anymore.... Not for at least a decade.


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## Vinyl 54X (Mar 12, 2019)

Masterwork said:


> You can't get those in Canada anymore.... Not for at least a decade.


do you use the double side step ladders? ( climb up from either side)


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## Redux (Oct 27, 2018)

Can’t say I’ve worked with or have even seen a wooden ladder in some 25 years, give or take, but I’ve regularly used up until a few weeks ago a couple of vintage magnesium alloy ladders and staging plank which were probably made in the 1960s and passed down through 3 generations of painters in my family. They’re also much lighter and stronger than aluminum ladders and stages.


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## Masterwork (Sep 13, 2020)

Vinyl 54X said:


> do you use the double side step ladders? ( climb up from either side)



I saw an electrician use a 14ft double, to have 2 guys hang a chandelier. But that's it.


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## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

Vinyl 54X said:


> Ever have somebody from another trade grab your ladder when you are not looking and try to use the apron as a step. Never good but sometimes funny.


 I got my wooden 4 ft step from Dulux Paints back in about 2005.. It would go missing on job sites for weeks at a time. It would always turn up in a closet somewhere or something with a bunch of writing on it. The electricians loved that ladder for some reason. .


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## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

Vinyl 54X said:


> do you use the double side step ladders? ( climb up from either side)


All of my step ladders are double side now. Got tired of skinning the front of my shins, or landing hard walking off the wrong side.


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## Pete Martin the Painter (Nov 8, 2012)

My grandfather paintes for a living. And my father tells me that he owed a 3 section, 60 foot ladder. How in the hell did they lift and extend those things.


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## IKnowNothing (Oct 15, 2020)

Fman said:


> I inherited a 5' wood step ladder on a job, cleaned it up, tightened the rungs and spar varnished it so it could ride atop the station wagon I was working out of at the time. It worked out well, held up and no one liked to steal/borrow it like they would a nice fiberglass one. Now, back at the house I got a 6' wooden, Type 1A that I got _REAL _cheap close to 30 years ago when a home center went out of business.* Not sure if it's rated 300 pounds or WEIGHS 300 pounds. I don't want to take it anywhere- even out of the basement.*


This/That part of your post floored me from laughing so hard. Quite a visual...
I feel sorry for that ladder,...or perhaps for the guy who made it. Ass saving heavy duty ladder. Now...no love.
At least step on the first step once a month.. give her some love respect and attention


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## Fman (Aug 20, 2011)

The worst wood ladders on the planet have to be these


https://i.pinimg.com/736x/7a/f2/f2/7af2f2586de353c6f415377738b38cc1.jpg


That pic doesn't really do it justice if you never been on a job with pipefitters/sprinkler guys. *HEAVY*. You extend that center ladder and climb it and you know what it musta been like for the guy in the crows nest on the old-timey pirate ships. They sway like high seas too.


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## IKnowNothing (Oct 15, 2020)

Fman said:


> The worst wood ladders on the planet have to be these
> 
> 
> https://i.pinimg.com/736x/7a/f2/f2/7af2f2586de353c6f415377738b38cc1.jpg
> ...


No, Thank you. That ladder /looks ...too personal. 
You climb on it first , do your job,...and ...I will disinfect it, and will climb on it after you are off of it.


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## Holland (Feb 18, 2011)

Hailo - these are the only step ladders I use anymore.


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