My neighbor was throwing away two ~16’ sections of aluminum ladder, likely to make space for their workout room in the garage. Naturally, after nobody picked them up during the day I claimed them while walking the dog last night.
What are some uses for a free aluminum ladder other than harvesting fruit? Some I’ve considered:
-Support for a high tunnel
-Cutting to make a custom “harvest table” (two 4’ sides and one long 8’ side to stand on)
-Veggie vine climbing trellis
-Supports for potted bench grafts
-Some sort of vertical gardening support along a fence or ABOVE a walkway (this is appealing as I am quickly running out of room to plant things)
Cannot imagine anyone giving up the chance to extend their reach to 16 feet taller. Ladders have countless uses! Imagine your town was flooded today game room or ladder? Imagine wolves or other animals were at ground level. Mounting solar panels or roofing cannot be done without a ladder. Painting cannot be done without a ladder. Those are just things a ladder is used for as a ladder but there is much more you are planting a garden and need your rows straight and spaced properly luckily you have a ladder a 16 foot straightedge. Temporary fencing in a pinch two 16 foot ladders on top of each other depending on width. One on each side with supports in the middle make a great tv antenna tower. They could have weights tied to them and drug behind a tractor to level things. It works better with old steel box springs. The box springs get destroyed after a few weeks of dragging them i still have a set out there i used for that.
I like the vertical gardening idea. Wow. Thats a lot of ladder. Create a 14’ X shaped structure? ^ tall peak?
Tie them to a tbar and stack them horizontally? I have some bent up 10’
Sections. Ladders are worth a lot of money.
I can’t believe someone would through away a ladder like that. It probably has $30 worth of scrap.
One thing I wouldn’t use it for though is as a ladder. I don’t go up more than 3-4 steps on a ladder anymore.
Good score
I already have a ladder to use as a ladder. The straight edge idea is a good one. I don’t have much left to level at my place but that’s something I hadn’t thought about.
If those are structurally good , safe , the best use for them would be for …wait for it ……
As ladders !
I , personally would not make a trellises or other out of them , as there will come a day you wish you ( or someone you know )had a ladder that size
We gave away similar tall ladder when we moved 10 years ago. Somebody scooped up the ladder in a matter of seconds, we’re glad they did. The risk that my husband could hurt himself climbing up the tall ladder is greater than the money. At this age, your body is not easily reparable.
I don’t honestly have anything at my place that I would ever need a ladder this size. I have access to even longer ones to borrow if I ever did need one though. I don’t plan on any of my fruit trees ever being taller than 16 feet either, so pruning shouldn’t be necessary at that height.
Another thought I had would be to design custom square pots for planting trees or shrubs (or veggies etc) within the rungs as a form of raised bed. Even properly sized round pots with a sturdy rim could work.
I am considering completely re-vamping the north side of my house and moving the “walkway” so it’s in the planting bed currently abutting the house. Moving that bed away from the house will give it just enough sunshine to actually grow some more trees. Instead of trees part of the path could be an arbor. I could even hang one side off the house and one side on posts to widen the available space.
