Telesteps vs Step Ladder for Attics

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by bkelly2

Well I can only take so much, and after all of the Ladder Accident stories I have changed my ways. Thanx for all the input.

Step ladders actually do work when accessing roofs....


This was an easy access for me.

[Bill Wieczorek]

I'll always use a 5'step ladder as my first choice as long as it works. As far as the pull down stairs are concerned I've learned my lesson. Several months ago the bottom 2 steps broke as I descended, fortunately My partner caught me before I fell. I was very lucky not to have cut my leg by the nails. I now use my telesteps to get up into attics when the step ladder doesn't work.

The new metal pull down stairs (if you have seen then them) are much stronger

[John Allingham]

Originally Posted by jallingham

My poll seems to be running about 75% in favour of telesteps for attic hatches but Bryce's post has me a little scared.
I picked up two last night, one called Telesteps and the other Metaltech. The Metaltech seems a little easier to use. The Metaltech is color coded (red/green) to show the rungs are locked.
The instructions say to leave unused rungs grouped at the top. That seems a little inconvenient. It's much easier to pull up rungs from the top.
Pull up the first rung till it locks, pull up the second rung till it locks, etc until you've reached the attic hatch. This method leaves unused rungs grouped at the bottom however.
Does anyone know what the problem is with unused rungs grouped at the bottom? Does anyone use it this way?

I called the Metaltech rep for an answer to my question - why not pull rungs up from the top one by one (the Telesteps has a built in mechanism that won't allow this).
The answer is that this method will leave a group of unused rungs at the bottom or possibly half way up. When you are climbing down, your foot expects to find each rung in a certain position. If it doesn't because the rungs are grouped and the next rung is not where it would normally be, you could mis-step and fall.
It has nothing to do with strength.

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by jallingham

I called the Metaltech rep for an answer to my question - why not pull rungs up from the top one by one (the Telesteps has a built in mechanism that won't allow this).
The answer is that this method will leave a group of unused rungs at the bottom or possibly half way up. When you are climbing down, your foot expects to find each rung in a certain position. If it doesn't because the rungs are grouped and the next rung is not where it would normally be, you could mis-step and fall.
It has nothing to do with strength.

Makes perfect sense to me. When I'm coming down off a ladder, I'm not looking at each and every rung I step down on. With the rungs left down at the bottom, that last step down would definitely hurt.

Thanks John.

[Erby Crofutt]

These are the two that I use.



The little one gets me to about 95% of what I need to get to. Folds out and extends to about 12 feet. The broad end pulls off for those narrow attic hatches in a small closet and I can use it just like some of y'all are using the telesteps to move the attic hatch. It also gets me up into attics where I don't trust the drop down stairs by setting it sideways to the drop down stairs. I'm just too lazy to have to hop into an attic off a step ladder. This just lets me climb right up there.

I don't worry about either one of them collapsing.

Little one was about $96.00 at Wal-Mart 8 years ago. Still trouble free today. Though I don't leave them out in the weather. They just ride in the van.

Of course, the LG was a tad more expensive than the little one back then.

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