The day my garage attic ladder nearly crushed my truck

I was trying to store Christmas decorations up in my garage attic back in 2018 when the folding ladder just gave way on one side. Luckily I had parked my F-150 halfway in, so the ladder landed on the bed instead of my head or the hood. That was the moment I stopped using those cheap $80 attic ladders from the big box stores and started looking at the aluminum ones rated for 350 lbs. Has anyone else had a scary moment with their attic access gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

harris.aaron3d ago

That $80 ladder nearly turned my truck into a convertible." Man, your story hits close to home. I was up in my attic last spring, hauling down some old fishing gear, when I heard this awful cracking sound. One side of the ladder just folded in half like a cheap lawn chair. I scrambled back up into the attic and had to call my neighbor to bring over his extension ladder. I felt like a cat stuck in a tree. Now I only use one of those aluminum ones that's thick enough to park a car on, and I always test it with one foot before putting my full weight on it.

angela_kelly3d ago

Oh man, that's exactly the kind of thing that makes you rethink ever stepping on those cheap ladders again. Did you ever check if the ladder had a weight limit sticker still on it, or was it one of those where the label faded off years ago and you just assumed it was fine? I'm curious because I see people post about these failures and wonder how many of them were just overloading the thing by accident.