Make the cuts at least one-fourth inch deep, but preferably one-half inch deep. Your next step is to make a rabbet cut between the tread marks you made earlier. You can do this with one, two, three, or all four legs, if necessary. When you set the ladder up, if one leg is two inches off the ground, remove the wing nut and bolt in that leg and slide the leveling strip down until it reaches the ground satisfactorily. Tap the bolts through the holes to be certain that they will move in and out of the holes easily. When all four are finished, use bolts and wing nuts to attach the lengths to the inside of the rails. When this is done, drill a quarter-inch hole through the rail at each of the marks.Ĭut four lengths of 2-x-4 one foot long and mark and drill these the same way. These marks should be only pencil dots along the center of the rail.
Next, start at the bottom of the rails and measure and mark off locations two inches apart, or 1.5 if you prefer. If your treads are to be one inch thick, make another mark parallel to the first one but one inch either higher or lower. Lay them off from both sides and connect the marks with a pencil mark across the entire face of the timber. We spaced our steps one foot apart, so measure off the step locations and mark them. Next, mark the locations of the steps or treads. Cut all four 2-x-4s at both top and bottom. Now use a level to help you mark the bottom and top cuts so that they will be horizontal when the cuts are finished.
A reasonable angle can be reached by setting the bottom of the 2-x-4s three feet or so from the wall. When you have cut your 2-x-4s (we chain-sawed ours and cut back on costs greatly), you can stand them, edges facing out from the wall, so that they lean against the wall at the angle you want to have for the ladder. If you use bolts, they need to be 4.5 inches long. And you will need a number of nuts, bolts, and washers, or you can do the whole thing with either screws and nails. These latter pieces should be about 2.5 feet long. You will also need a top plate (made of 1-x-6 pine) and two 2-x-4 support and stabilizing timbers for the sides of the ladder. You, if you decide to build the ladder for yourself, will need four of the 2-x-4 timbers and 12 steps. We started with 2-x-4 pine rails and 1-x-4 oak steps or treads. We have a total of less than $6 tied up in the entire ladder and its adjustments. Our ladder has self-leveling adjustments that can be made within seconds.Īnd what did it cost us to build this ladder$280? Not even close. What if one leg is too high or too low and the ladder(s) lean? We have that covered, too. We can extend the step ladder from 8 feet to 12 feet, and we can do the same with the separate straight ladders.īut that’s not all. If we need to climb higher than the ladder will permit, we make a couple of quick adjustments and we have an extension ladder that is four feet higher than the regular piece of equipment. If we need two straight ladders, we can simply separate the step ladder and we have two ladders. This dual nature of the ladder permits one of us to climb the back side and hold lumber or other materials in place while the other one climbs the front side to do the nailing or marking or whatever else needs to be done.īut that’s not all. But ours is different in that the step ladder is built so that someone can work on both sides of the ladder.
First, we have the regular step ladder that everybody knows and hates. Here’s what we managed to accomplish: my son Robert III and I built our all-purpose ladder, which is in reality several ladders that solved our problems immediately. So we set out to correct the situation and in the process construct an all-purpose ladder that would meet all of our needs. Ladders, used outdoors, are always on uneven terrain, it seems, and there is considerable danger of falling, dropping and damaging materials, or enduring unreasonable difficulties. I find that I need more room, more height, more hands, and more patience for me to handle chores of modest difficulty because of the ladders and their problems. If I am doing outside work and need a ladder, I spend nearly as much time trying to set up the ladders as I do in completing the actual work.