[gilbert]

which is the best?

[Johnny B]

Unless your name is Samson, ally is the way to go.

John.

[bad trippy]

Go for the Gardiners new carbon fibre ladder, its the lightest ladder you can get

[Dave66]

it'll get blown away if its too light 

dont get wood though, far too heavy

[Richard Neal]

alloy, no splinters then 

[Darranvps]

Take a nip up to Bradford and look around for some of the bigger window cleaning companies, like Hawksworth etc, they all use wooden ladders, and there is a very good reason for this.
No professional window cleaning company up North would use Alloy ladders for every day use.

[birdymiller]

why?

[Darranvps]

Hi
Because they are too light.
Your hands get black
Very Cold in Winter
Too rigid to put up.
There used to be a ladder manufacturing company in Bradford who made lightweight wooden window cleaners ladders, you could have them fitted with spikes or rubber feet, whatever you preferred. They had a free faller which meant you could push the ladder up whilst climbing up the rungs and it fell into place perfectly each time you lowered it onto a rung. Non of these fixed fallers are much good in my opinion.
Not sure if they are still going but if you try CA Browns in Bradford West Yorkshire, they may still stock this type of ladder. Certainly a lot better than alloy ladders, no doubt about it.

[bobby p]

sounds interesting RHINO. did these ladders have wooden rungs? how does that FREE  sliding bit work?

[H S and Son]

No professional window cleaning company up North would use Alloy ladders for every day use.

What were the last sort of ladders you bought, wood or alloy?

[Nathanael Jones]

I'd never use wooden ladders for window cleaning. Aluminium is harder to damage, but when it is damaged its more visible. wooden ladders can be nearly split through & you might not notice if the crack is in the same line as the grain (which it often is). Aluminium is also a lot lighter,...

If you do use wooden ladders they should be inspected very carefully before each use and should NEVER be painted as paint can hide defects.

[Ian Rochester]

Take a nip up to Bradford and look around for some of the bigger window cleaning companies, like Hawksworth etc, they all use wooden ladders, and there is a very good reason for this.
No professional window cleaning company up North would use Alloy ladders for every day use.

Guess we're not a professional company then, nor are Convey Bros in Newcastle (lost count of their vans but did see one with No 29 on it recently) or ISIS, they all use alloy ladders as well.  I have never seen any large companies up here or anywhere using wooden ladders.  I did once see someone using a set of 2m wooden pointers.  We only have 3 window cleaning vans, all alloys (Titan 3.9m double and 4.5m double)

Anyway, when has Bradford ever been "up north" theres another 150 miles to the Scottish Border, at best I'd class Bradford as "slightly above the Midlands"! 

[A & J Owen Window Cleaning]

metal mate lighter to use dont get the splinters in ya fingers

[DavidWright76]

Wooden ones are not only heavy, they rot and can be dangerous. Surprised they still make 'em really.

[trevor perry]

my own preferance is a wooden ladder with alloy rungs, true they are heavier but the advantages are they arent as cold in winter, your hands dont get all black and i have also found wood much better on plastic frames as aluminium slip very easily this shouldnt be a problem if a ladder mit is fitted but sometimes the alloy can rest against the plastic and it is very dangerous, if you do go for wood try and get proper silver spruce it is lighter than other wood and doesnt split the same but if it is genuine silver spruce it is about twice the price but in my opinion well worth paying, the only downside i have found with wood is that in long dry periods the ladder can become loose and a bit to flexible but this is easily resolved by a good soaking, by the way never paint wood ladders as any damage then cant be seen but you can treat them with fence stain to help keep the weather out.
  anyone who struggles carrying a double 12 wood ladder needs to eat more weetabix and get down the gym a bit

[dai]

my own preferance is a wooden ladder with alloy rungs, true they are heavier but the advantages are they arent as cold in winter, your hands dont get all black and i have also found wood much better on plastic frames as aluminium slip very easily this shouldnt be a problem if a ladder mit is fitted but sometimes the alloy can rest against the plastic and it is very dangerous, if you do go for wood try and get proper silver spruce it is lighter than other wood and doesnt split the same but if it is genuine silver spruce it is about twice the price but in my opinion well worth paying, the only downside i have found with wood is that in long dry periods the ladder can become loose and a bit to flexible but this is easily resolved by a good soaking, by the way never paint wood ladders as any damage then cant be seen but you can treat them with fence stain to help keep the weather out.
  anyone who struggles carrying a double 12 wood ladder needs to eat more weetabix and get down the gym a bit

I agree 100% with all the above. You also have the added bonus of a wooden ladder bending into the job, very handy when doing those windows over porches.

[Darranvps]

So we are all divided then, so I conclude that it's each to his own then

[H S and Son]

Not quite Rhinoman.

You haven't answered my previous question.

No professional window cleaning company up North would use Alloy ladders for every day use.

What were the last sort of ladders you bought, wood or alloy?

[gilbert]

so a wooden one is better than a ally

[Mike_G]

Well whatever ladder you decide on dont buy a cheap domestic diy alloy one, if you go for alloy make sure its a trade one, much better for our job. When I was on OCS all we used was wooden ones, I think they still use them, and I have to say I never had any problems with them, sure they are heavier than alloy ones but for domestics you wouldn't need a big ladder so a wooden one would be fine.