Go up the ladder to the roof…

so I can change all of those light bulbs.

One of the problems with having a house with vaulted 15′ ceilings is that you need a Really Tall Ladder to change the light bulbs. Or install ceiling fans. Or change the batteries in the smoke detectors.

So a ladder was my first big purchase of homeowner accessories. Not just any plain old ladder either. There were very specific criteria for the ladder I would need:

• Get me up to at least 15′ as a stepladder so I can reach those bulbs/smoke detectors.
• Compact enough to fit into the car so I can get it home from the store
• Stable enough to keep me up 15′ in the air without toppling over
• Reasonably portable

So after some indecision over what to pick, I ended up with one of these multi-purpose multi-use folding contorting ladders. It’s basically one smaller ladder that slides inside another ladder. Folds in half for use as a step ladder or for storage, or stretch it out to use as one big ladder. Pull the inside ladder out, attach a couple of hinges to the other two parts and you have two step ladders or a platform for some scaffolding or workbench type thing.

A little bit on the heavy side, but pretty easy to use. Has a good solid feel and seems to be solidly constructed, and the locks are beefy and feel secure.

So now I can get up to the ceiling and change light bulbs, batteries, and put up ceiling fans. Or go outside and put up eavestroughs, climb onto the roof, put lights up around the house or whatever else I need to do up in the air.

I’ll give this thing 8/10, losing points mostly for being so expensive.