05-27-2017, 02:47 PM
Acer wrote:
A 16-foot reach extension ladder (I believe it's two 10's stacked),,,
The way they list extension ladders is by the total length of the sections. So a 16 foot extension ladder will be two 8 foot sections. Minimum overlap is about 2-3 feet, that gives a maximum extension of approximately 14 feet. At the proper angle that will just about high enough to work on gutters, etc that are 10-12' off the ground.
Weight limit was mentioned by testcase. That makes a big difference in weight of the ladder. You mentioned the guy with his light weight ladder, that was probably rated for 200-225 lbs as compared to the 300 lb rating for the Werner and Little Giant multi ladders.
As for the tree guy, I have seen many such workers who skimped on the load rating of their equipment. It might be more convenient and cost less to begin with, but they often need to replace their ladders more often or get hurt when something fails.