Buying a telescopic ladder: what to look for, and when not to

Why everyone wants one

A 3.8 metre telescopic ladder collapses into a package of around eighty centimetres. It fits in the back of a car, it fits in a cupboard, and you do not need a roof rack for it. For a service engineer, an installer or anyone who occasionally has to get high up, that is a real advantage.

Which is exactly why so many bad ones are sold. On a conventional ladder you can see from the rungs and the stiles whether it is serious equipment. On a telescopic ladder the quality is in the mechanism, and you cannot see that in the shop.

The mechanism is the ladder

On a telescopic ladder every rung is a separate part with its own lock. That is ten to fourteen locks that all have to engage, and if one of them does not, that section collapses while you are standing on it.

That is why the marking matters here more than on any other ladder. Look for EN 131-6. That is the part of the European ladder standard dealing specifically with telescopic ladders, and it tests the extending mechanism. If it only says EN 131 without part 6, you do not know whether the mechanism was tested at all.

Also check whether it states professional or non-professional. If you work with it, you need the professional version.

Four things to test in the shop

• Extend it fully and listen. Every rung should lock with a clear click. If you hear nothing, or you have to push and wriggle to get a rung into place, put it back.
• Check for an indicator on the rungs. On better ladders a coloured window per rung shows whether it is locked. That is not a gimmick: from the ground you otherwise cannot tell whether the seventh rung really engaged.
• Ask about retracting. The classic injury with this type of ladder is a finger between two rungs. Ladders with a controlled retraction system, often called soft close, lower the whole thing rung by rung instead of all at once. For daily use that is the difference between awkward and dangerous.
• Stand it up and look at the foot. Extended, this is a long, narrow ladder. A wide foot with a stabiliser bar or fold-out feet makes more difference here than on a conventional ladder of the same length.

What it is good for

• Service work where you drive a car or a small van.
• Indoor work: ceilings, pipework, lighting, cameras.
• Jobs where you only occasionally need height and have nowhere to store a long ladder.

What it is not good for

• Daily heavy site use. A conventional aluminium ladder has no moving parts to break; this one does, and they go first.
• Dusty work. Sand, plaster, sanding dust and paint end up in the profiles. That is the main cause of locks that start to stick, and you only notice once you are standing on it.
• Leaving it outside. Moisture in the profiles plus dirt is a bad combination. This ladder belongs in dry storage.
• Work where you move it every ten minutes. It is heavier than a single ladder of the same length and extending it takes time.

Maintenance, and here it is not a side issue

On a conventional ladder, maintenance means replacing the feet. Here it is about the mechanism:

• Wipe the profiles clean with a dry or slightly damp cloth before you retract it. Whatever you leave in there will grind along later.
• Do not lubricate anything unless the manufacturer says so, and then only with what they prescribe. Grease and oil attract dust, which is exactly the problem you were avoiding.
• Store it retracted and dry, lying down or upright according to the manual.
• Check before every use that every lock engages. On this type of ladder that is the most important of the six checks.

Inspection and usage rules stay the same

In law a telescopic ladder is simply a ladder. The same inspection duty, the same usage rules, the same obligation to secure it when you work from it. The fact that it fits in the car changes none of that.

In short

Buy on the marking, not on the price. EN 131-6, professional grade, audible locks with indicators, controlled retraction and a wide foot. If you are on a building site every day, keep a conventional ladder alongside it: the telescopic one travels in the car, the other one gets you through the job.