My cheap chinese folding ladder buckled under me last tuesday, anyone else had a near miss with budget gear?

I was only 8 feet up reaching for a gutter cleanout when one of the rivets on the hinge just gave out, and I had to drop my tool belt and grab the rain gutter to keep from falling.

2 comments

2 Comments

charles_chen933d ago

Come on man, cheap gear saved your life here. If that was a heavy aluminum ladder you'd have broken your ankles when it went. The rivet failed which is a built-in safety feature. It's like a shear pin on a snowblower. Plus those Chinese ladders are intentionally designed to be sacrificial so you don't hurt yourself. The gutter caught you because the ladder was light enough to not rip the gutter off the house. Heavy expensive ladders would have smashed right through that gutter and then you'd be on the ground with a broken back.

emeryfox4d ago

Man, that exact thing happened to me with a no-name ladder from a flea market. Was just putting up some Christmas lights and the whole thing just folded like a cheap lawn chair, barely caught myself on a tree branch. Now I always give mine a good shake test before I even step on it.