How To Choose The Most Suitable Ladder 2
The weight of the ladder (the lighter, the better?)
Is the light ladder always better than the heavy ladder? In my opinion, it is not.
The technology the ladders manufacturers use is very similar these days. E.g., the majority of the aluminum ladder producers buys the aluminum profiles from the aluminum manufacturers (thereīs just handful of them in USA or Europe). If from two visually almost the same ladders one weighs 20 kg and the second one just 13 kg, you may be cautious about the second ladder.
Generally, aluminum is an expensive material and if the ladder producer wants to reduce the weight of the ladder, he can do the following things:
-
reduce the number of steps as much as he is allowed by the regulation;
-
use the thinner aluminum profile (which could be dangerous); My final piece of advice is to go the middle way.
Donīt buy the most expensive ladders for professionals as you will not use them as extensively as the professionals do and - in fact - you will never see any difference between the ladder made from pulled or welded aluminum profiles.
And donīt buy the cheapest crap as well as your safety is much more important than the small money which you can save.
At the end, here are some
recommendations for aluminum ladders (based on the European DIN EN 131):
- minimum thickness of the aluminum profile is 1,2 mm;
- the distance between the steps must be 25 - 30 cm (the same distance kept between all steps);
- the minimum step load is 150 kg (you say you weigh only 70? but you will need to transport somehow the roofing material, tools, coatings, etc... you need the reasonable reserve. if you are a guy like me /not very far from 100 kg/ consider even more than the 150 kg load);
- the outer width of the ladder must be 34 cm or more (simply, you should be able to stand with both feet on the same step as comfortably as possible).
All for the ladders for this moment but maybe I will get back to this topic later with some recommendations on the ladder accessories.
