Extension ladder stabilisers

[ejstubbs]

I've just bought an extension ladder, primarily to enable me to get up to the external siren box for our intruder alarm so I can change the battery.  The ladder has come with the stabiliser bar to be fitted to the bottom end, which is all very well and good but having a couple of chunky sticky-out bits at one end makes the thing very awkward to store indoors.  However, without the stabiliser bar fitted the bottom of the ladder has no 'feet', only bare alu channel.

 

I'm contemplating two options:

1. Buy some butterfly screws and wing nuts so that I can easily install the stabiliser bar when I need to use the ladder (which I don't expect to be all that often - probably no more than two or three times a year) and remove it when I come to put it away again, or
2. Cut the supplied stabiliser bar down, leaving just enough protruding to re-attach the 'foot' from the end I cut off, and drilling new holes for the semi-permanent fixing bolt at that end.

 

The disadvantage of option 2 is that, in theory, the ladder will be more prone to toppling sideways if I'm clumsy.  But I'm dubious as to how much of a problem this is really likely to be.

 

Anyone have any views on this?

[chris p bacon]

I've done ladder work for 40 years without a problem, just make sure the legs are flat and level, don't over reach and make sure the laddr is at the correct angle (there is usually a guide on the side).  For peace of mind get someone to stand on the bottom while you are up it.

 

I have used the stabiliser bar on a couple of ladders and found them to be more of a nuisance, even to the point where someone tripped over one and went sprawling although luckily not upsetting the ladder while I was up it.

  

[Jonboy]

You can get quite a lot of different styles of rubber ladder feet through various eBay sellers, had to occasionally buy them to replace missing ones in the warehouse at work.

[F-UnitMad]

I have a short 3-stage set of ladders I use mostly for decorating in stairways. I shortened the stabiliser bar quite sustantially due to how wide it was as supplied, so it would fit far easier in domestic stairways. I would do the same to a larger 'outdoor' set of ladders if they were so fitted - to be honest having someone foot them and securing the top if possible with rope are better precautions to take for ladder stability - "don't stretch" is a ladder Golden Rule, so no one should be relying on the stabiliser bar anyway to avoid over-balancing.