A couple of weeks ago, when I had to change a light bulb in the hallway ceiling light fixture, I realized that even my tallest ladder was not tall enough for that. I give myself credit for not pushing this task to “sometime later” but making myself do it “now.” Still, it as a stunt. I had to move the ladder closer to the wall and touch the wall with one hand while standing on the ladder landing. And to be honest, I needed both hands because I had to unscrew this thing in order to change the light bulb.
I have a very lightweight ladder which Boris and I bought in ACE Hardware shortly after we moved to Rogers Park, and I love it. But having the ceilings as high as mine, this ladder is not high enough. When last time an electrician came to fix my ceiling fan remote, I asked him to let me measure his ladder, and it turned out I needed two more steps (or two more feet).
First, I tasked Boris with finding a ladder that would be comparable to what we have now, just taller. The ladder I have now weights 6 lb., which is a record light, and I was hoping to find something around 10-12 lb. Boris researched it for a while but didn’t find anything. Then I researched and I couldn’t find it either. Then, I looked at “best recommendations,” and the vote came for a ladder that was 18 lb. Boris said: no way, and then took another look at Amazon and found the ladder, which was said to be either 9.5 lb (in the description) or 14.5 lb (in the product specs). I ordered that one, and it arrived, and… it weights 17.7 lb!!!!
Two conclusions:
1 – The “best recommendation” looks reasonable
2 – Never trust Amazon. With anything!
Hettie's Reflections 