This weekend my name-brand wooden attic ladder catastrophically failed. Fortunately no one was hurt.
The wooden rail members split on both sides along the grain leaving the entire ladder hanging by a remaining 1/4″ thick un-split piece of wood. The other side failed completely.
While the ladder is admittedly 20 years old I have to believe that this should not happen. The failure happened while closing the ladder. Thankfully no one was on it at the time and it didnt come down on top of me.
Do you all think I have any recourse with the mfg to get it replaced or should i just move on?
Any suggestions for new ladders?
thanks everyone.
dave
Replies
20 year old ladder? Move on.
If the hardware is in good condition, you might consider rebuilding it.
move on.
I recently installed a metal frame unit by Werner that was/is a bigger POS than ANY wooden one I ever installed.
Was it the new compact ones I'm just now seeing in the local Big Orange? 'cause if it's poorly designed, I'll stop thinking about it for a current spot....
I don't know about compact; I think it's the standard 22x54. I felt that the design was poor, not installer friendly, the door was warped straight out of the box, and there's no good way to trim it out.
Somebody responding to this post seemed to like that model. The alum. rails are definitely the only thing it's got going for it in my opinion.
I ended up costing Werner a fortune in shipping charges over warped doors. I made them continue to ship me replacements until I got one that was not warped all to heck. I got great customer service and a really bad product. The whole fiasco started with one of the aluminum models that would not fully close due to what appeared to be weak gas struts. In addition, there is no good way to trim the aluminum model.I had them replace the aluminum model with a 300 lb wooden model and I finally got one with a non-warped door. It was quite an experience to put it kindly...
In addition, there is no good way to trim the aluminum model.Ryan, what were you trying to trim? We've had no problem cutting the legs, and I can't think of anything else that would need it. I also find the gas struts much easier to operate than the springs. Just curious. You must have really had some bad ones<G> "But to be honest some folks here have been pushing the envelope quite a bit with their unnecessary use if swear words. They just put a character in to replace a letter. But everyone knows what they're saying." Sancho FREE CAROLE
I am not sure what you are talking about. Werner makes 3 different metal attic ladders.A aluminum and steel folding ladders.
http://www.wernerladder.com/catalog/details.php?series_id=207#
http://www.wernerladder.com/newprods/s2200.phpThey are both 3 sections folding like the wood ones. The Aluminum ladder has springs and arms like the wood ones. The steel ladder uses gas struts.They also make an aluminum telescoping ladder, The Televator. I think that this is fairly new. It is much different than most attic ladders. Each rung section collapses and it telescroped together.The cover is not attached to the ladder, but rather separate hinged lide.I have seen it at Lowes.http://www.wernerladder.com/newprods/televator.php.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
we only use the ones with my initials..
MFS
Memphis Folding StairsMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I can't speak for Ryan, but when I say "trim", I'm referring to applying the casing. There's nothing to nail to except the ceiling, which is in my case, finished with a 1/2 in. stipple. Not the best situation. The absence of a 1x casing is frustrating.
Make sure you get one with sneakers:
Sorry for not being clear. When I said trim I meant nailing up casing around the opening for the ladder. And the ladder was not aluminum, it was the steel model with struts. I just remember that it was not wood and it advertised wider steps and no springs to reduce the opening width at the top. I'm no attic ladder designer, but to me it looked like the steel model with gas struts would have worked a lot better if the struts were longer and mounted further down toward the non-hinged end of the ladder for more leverage to suck the ladder up tight to the frame when closed.
As a trim guy, I shoulda know<G> "But to be honest some folks here have been pushing the envelope quite a bit with their unnecessary use if swear words. They just put a character in to replace a letter. But everyone knows what they're saying." Sancho FREE CAROLE
Just like someone posted to me about the replacement of my 36v DeWalt, "free is good, unless it is free many times". I admire your persistence. At least now you won't need to buy underlayment for your next bathroom floor.
this isn't that uncommon,i had a friend break her foot from about the forth step,had her foot operated on twice and still can't hardly walk on it 4 yrs later. my hvac inspector showed up at my house,looked at unit in basement then went upstairs,saw my attic ladder and ask if i had a reg. ladder he could go up with,sure. anyway he told me he was inspecting a house about 10 years ago and the ladder gave way and he was off work for almost six months.i always wondered if i had said no ladder if he would've just signed off the upstairs unit and went on. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
I've never understood the logic behind them. There is plenty of OSHA regulation on ladders and staging yet they allow those fold up things made out of toothpicks to be sold. If you use an attic frequently, build a proper stair, if you rarely use it, bring out a stepladder.
I think 20 yrs is a fair life for an attic ladder. Check out the aluminum Werner. Its a nice set up, no springs in the way and its simple to install. They cost about $120 (?).
Somewhere around there.
These are really well made. Insulated and gasketed too.
http://www.conservationtechnology.com/downloads/AtticLadder.pdf
Now THAT'S a pull-down stair! Good find!
reinvent,
What's the price range on those stairs?
Geoff
$328 ladder for ceilings to 104' and $380 ladder and extensions for 104" to 125 1/2 inches.
NICE!!!!!!!!!
I like the aluminum Werners, also. Light, and easy to install, oughta last forever.
I have a Memphis Stair Ultimate. 2x4 rails, it gets a fair amount of use...guess I shoulda made the house bigger so I could've put in that set of real stairs<G>
I've only seen one break, 3/4" rails with a 400lb clean-up gut on it...I have had one break me. I was being a smart azz w/ a helper during an install. He'd gotten his fingers stuck in one somehow, and was scared to death of them. I was goofing on him after we had it partially fastend in, jerked the pull string, sucker fell out and broke my hand...what a maroon! LOL
I don't know how much room Dave has. But, the ladder I like the best for an attic doesn't fold. The whole thing slides up into the attic. It does take up about 5 or 6 feet of space in front of the opening in the attic. Almost like a steep stair, not a ladder.
Link, I have a ton of room. Do you know who makes such a stair?
dave
The one piece slide up stair that I was talking about in a previous post is made by Bessler. http://WWW.Bessler.com
Why don't you make your own ?
And who ever said they have to fold ? Why not slide ?
Just about anyone who has been in the business for long has an old sliding aluminum extension ladder stuck in the back of the garage or somewhere.. that has a broken top and/or bottom rung.
Cut the ladder top and bottom off, until what you have left slides out the length you want, with about a third of that distance overlapped by both slides, in the center.
Cut the appropriate opening in the ceiling.
Fasten the ladder to a piece of plywood, and hinge the sucker up there.
Use a rope and pulley to pull the bottom extension back up when you want to close it. Devise a lock for the bottom end. Lock that up to keep the top ladder from sliding back out as you close it, or as the next person opens it.