I get High With a Little Help from Werner

Werner Fiberglass Extension Ladder D6224-2

If you have a set of stairs (or two [or three]) in your house, one day you'll realize that trusty six-foot stepladder just doesn't hack it for outside work. Even standing on the top step – which, by the way, is a definite safety no-no – your hands wave several feet short of second-story gutters. Nope, the only way to go is with an extension ladder, and the longest one you can fit in the garage is probably a good start. I already had a sixteen-foot aluminum ladder when I got my first two-story house, but a mere sixteen feet wouldn't cut it there: so I schlepped on down to the local orange hell (they call it "Home Depot," but that's their story) and went ladder shopping. They carry a pretty full line of Werner Ladders: wow: what a wealth of choices!

What Kind of Ladder? 

You can buy stepladders up to twenty feet tall for reaching the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, for instance, but cost and size are prohibitive unless you're a professional ceiling painter. There are plenty of cool folding and telescoping ladders, an excellent choice if you need to carry a ladder around in the bed of your pickup; but they're also expensive and have limited reach. For your average homeowner who needs to get up on the roof to retrieve a Frisbee, clean out gutters, reach high limbs on a tree, or touch up the soffits; an extension ladder is usually the optimal combination of size, reach, and cost. So, I went with an extension ladder.

What Material?  To my knowledge, wood ladders are a thing of the past except for a few special applications. That left me with the choice of an aluminum ladder or fiberglass side rails with metal rungs. Aluminum has advantages: it's strong, durable, lightweight, and corrosion resistant. It also has a big disadvantage: it conducts electricity. A well-made fiberglass ladder is also strong and durable, plus it's non-conductive and therefore safe to use around electricity. On the other hand, a fiberglass ladder is at least half again as heavy as aluminum ladders the same length. I'm a wimp about electricity (I've seen too many safety films) so I chose fiberglass construction.

How Long? 

That's a tough call. Extension ladders are like 2-by-4s: the dimensions are nominal instead of actual. A twenty-foot extension ladder consists of two ten-toot sections, but your maximum safe reach on a twenty-foot ladder is actually less than twenty feet. The nominal twenty-foot reach is lessened by about three feet of overlap between ladder sections, the highest safe step on which a worker may stand, and the minimum safe angle of lean. To reach my second-story gutters at a height of sixteen or seventeen feet off the ground, I chose a 24-foot ladder. For third-story gutters, I'd have been wise to choose a 36-footer, but at the time I didn't need the reach.

What Duty Rating?  My old aluminum ladder is a bit on the lightweight side. It's probably fine for a 98-pound ninth-grader getting your friends' Friday-night TP out of the trees in the front yard (use a hose, dummy!), but a 200-pounder scaling the ladder with a bundle of shingles or a roll of roofing felt over his shoulder would be in danger of damaging the ladder, not to mention a few bones. Ladders are rated by their maximum safe load, from light household duty (type II: a 200-pound safe load) to special-duty professional (Type 1AA: 375-pound live load). I picked a ladder with an extra heavy-duty industrial rating (Type 1A) to allow for my weight plus the weight of tools and materials; a safe load of 300 pounds.

What Did I Get? 

I chose a 24-foot type 1A fiberglass extension ladder; a Werner D6224-2, where the "24" refers to ladder length. It comes in lengths from sixteen (D6216-2) to forty (D6240-2) feet. Some of the selling features of my ladder are

• Seven-layer fiberglass rails: tough, durable, and corrosion-resistant; not to mention non-conductive 
• Gravity-spring locks: the "bird-beak" locks that support the upper section (the "fly") move out of the way as you raise the ladder, but clamp securely as you bring it back down the base section. 
• Halyard included: a nylon rope and pulley system for one-person extension of the ladder; the rope ties off to one of the steps (there is no halyard on the 16-foot ladder) 
• Interlocking rails: the fly section has guides to keep it square with the base section as it's raised 
• D-rungs: D-shaped aluminum rungs with the ridged flat side up make the steps more slip-resistant 
• Slip-resistant Base show plate: the base pad is reversible, giving you a spur side for added traction on soft surfaces or a non-slip rubber pad for added traction on smooth surfaces. 
• Mar-resistant end caps: Nylon inserts into the ends of the base and fly section reduce (but do not eliminate) scrapes and scratches on the supporting surface. 
• The ultimate in ladders will also have replaceable rungs, but let's face it - I don't use the thing every day... 

Overall 

This is a well-made fiberglass ladder that will last for decades. Now if only I could get it to grow another six or eight feet...

Summary:

Plus: non-conductive, rugged, well-made

Minus: 50-plus pounds and 12 feet long make it pretty unwieldy!

What They're Saying: The only problem with my Werner D6224-2 Ladder is that it's now too short; but that's my fault.

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