Anyone ban the use of wooden ladders?
From what I’ve seen the wooden ladders degrade far quicker than any other material. Got me thinking if anyone has put a ban on them to save themselves the headache of throwing them out down the line.
Is there an application for a wooden ladder that other material ladders wouldn’t be able to perform?
Comments (15)
To the best of my knowledge, the biggest benefit to wood is that it can be repaired
Aside from what Tim mentioned, I've never liked wooden ladders due to absorbing moisture, chemicals, etc., which degrades the structural materials.
Yup. To my customers I highly recommend fiberglass. No wood and since Maintenance people mostly use the ladders not aluminum that conducts electricity.
We do not allow wooden ladders on my project.
There is just no way to tell how exposed to elements and chemicals or anything else. Just isn't worth the risk of having them.
The San Francisco Fire Department has been making and using their own wooden ladders for a very long time.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a15120/san-francisco-fire-department-wooden-ladders/#
:~:text=The%20SF%20Fire%20Department%20has,that%20can%20last%20for%20decades.
How do you inspect a wooden ladder? Seems to me that minute cracks would be difficult to identify, or at least more difficult than on a fiberglass ladder.
We used to have job made wooden ladders on construction sites that followed the standard for design and construction. Usually only used for the one job only then scrapped.