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You remember that old, cracked, pain splattered wooden step ladder that lurks in the corner of the loft or garage, collecting dust and its very own community of arachnids.  It’s really time that you replaced it, isn't it? Over at the Midland ladders online store, there is a whole range of high quality aluminium step ladders suitable for all of your DIY needs, but it does seem a shame to completely dismiss your old faithful wooden friend. Well, there is an innovative and inventive way to put your old ladder to good use; as a food display for your son’s or daughter’s wedding day! A Ladder Stand Whilst we would not recommend using a step ladder to serve the main dinner event on, there are many instances across the internet that show they can serve as a nifty and unusual platform f..

Mount Everest is one of the most desirable climbs for any mountaineer and the peak is classed as "the roof of the world", along with other high peaks in the interior Asian mountain ranges. The last stage of the climb is known as the Hillary Step, after Sir Edmund Hillary, the man who first navigated the vertical face to reach the peak on 29th May, 1953, almost exactly sixty years ago. Nowadays, hundreds of people a year undertake and achieve the impressive feat, but the sheer numbers of people involved (not to mention that each climber or team is accompanied by a Sherpa, trained and experienced in that particular mountain) mean there is now a traffic jam around the Hillary Step. Already in 2013, more than 520 people have reached the summit, and given the short climbing windows available du..

 As regular readers will know, most fish can climb ladders (well, the ones that follow an upstream migratory path anyway). We've looked at fish ladders in the past, mostly because they're actually quite interesting and the mental image of a fish climbing a ladder is amusing! If you haven't seen it before I highly recommend our post in December last year where we gave some fun examples of the North American autumn Salmon migrations and their ladders. Fish ladders, for the uninitiated, have several types of construction, but the basic premise is a series of obstacles or pools which slow the water flow down and provide a bypass for man-made obstacles on the rivers such as dams.  The fish swim or jump from section to section in order to get upstream past the dam or other blockage. How to Buil..

A combination ladder, for those not in the know, is a ladder that combines a step ladder, extension ladder and sometimes a stairwell ladder all in one.  Because of the construction and design of combination ladders, they work very well as extendible step ladders: self-supporting but with a taller reach than any other type of step ladder. Combination Ladders - Amazing Versatility! Most combination ladders comprise three sections which can be extended as a standard 3-section extension leaning ladder for use where a supporting wall is available. The uppermost section is usually easily removable should you only require a 2-section ladder thus reducing the weight in use. But combination ladders all have ingeniously designed top brackets which allow two of the three sections to open and lock ..

With Midland Ladders, online ordering and payment could not be easier and the 24-hour delivery on weekday orders makes us a great choice for ordering ladders or ladder accessories for the next day.  Now, you might think this is great service and it is, but nothing can quite live up to one woman’s tale of ordering a ladder online. Ms Yang, who works at a construction company in Chongqing,China, ordered a normal step-ladder from a company based in Shenzhen.  When the package arrived at the office the next day she was surprised that it was much smaller, and lighter than she had anticipated.  Perhaps it was a magic ladder, which grew when the parcel was opened?  It turned out not to be anything quite that extraordinary, however what was inside the package was just under two kilos of s..

In some posts about creative uses of old ladders, we've touched on the idea of using the space between the treads as bookshelves, or similar storage areas.  It’s such a popular idea that almost every interior design show visits the concept at some point. This idea, of using the space around treads, is what inspired designer Robert Heal to develop the modular Ladderax system of storage in 1964.  Instead of using the space between the treads or the treads themselves, as the storage space, Heal had an idea. He decided to create a system that could be expanded easily, based around a series of upright ladders, horizontal connectors and storage units which fit into the gaps between the treads. Steel connecting rods run horizontally between the rungs, and cabinets sit on top of these, re..

Over a hundred years ago in Massachusetts, America, a fire chief named Edward F. Dahill in New Beford invented an aerial ladder hoist, which enabled firefighters to put up a ladder of up to seventy feet in seven seconds (that's almost as fast as the fireman shooting up the ladder in the crazy video we put up a link to on Thursday, check it out if you haven't already). In this case to put it up so fast two cylinders holding compressed air were deployed to raise the ladder, negating the need for firefighters to manually raise the ladder, thereby saving crucial time at the scene of an emergency. A Legal Battle for Ladders Dahill's invention was taken up by the Ahrens Fire Engine Company, founded in 1905 after a legal battle to extricate themselves from the newly formed American-LaFrance Fir..

In today's modern world, myth, legend and superstition may be considered to have little part to play. But despite this, many people take great interest in the little wives tales that surround us and a fair few actually heed the morals and warnings that they contain.  A black cat has caused the hairs on many a back of the neck to stand to attention, not to mention the seemingly ingrained instinct to handle any mirror with the up most care and respect for fear of breaking it and gaining 7 years bad luck. Another superstition that appears to be fixed in the British psyche is, of course, that it is bad luck to walk under ladders. Now, this does make sense from the outset. Ladders can be wobbly: there is a risk that the person working on the ladder may drop something or indeed fall themselves o..

An online video sensation sees a firefighter climbing up a ladder against the clock, in an impressive fifteen seconds!  Even by the demanding standards of fitness and speed required of most firefighters, this guy really stands out.  The video is titled ‘This firefighter can climb ladders faster than you can fall off one’ and as you can see from the video, the definition of climbing the ladder also includes getting it off the truck, running it to the building, setting it up and then climbing up it.  When you consider that’s all done in fifteen seconds, you start to think that maybe the title of the video isn’t over-hyped, but perhaps he really is faster up a ladder than most people falling down?  We wouldn’t suggest falling off a ladder to test this theory though!  However, o..

Spring really is here, finally! Time to dust of your ladders for a spring clean. Hopefully now we are into May (though it seems we have inherited April's showers) we shouldn't see any snow for a few months... Plus, with a few bank holidays sprinkled around, it's also that time of year when the paintbrushes come out, garages, sheds and gardens are tidied, lawns are mowed and generally everybody has a bit of a sort out. Spring cleaning is one of those long projects that can involve a few different ladders. There might be a short step used indoors, a tall step ladder used for painting, a loft ladder for ferrying bits and pieces to and from the attic, an extension ladder for reaching guttering and windows; almost every type of ladder you can think of often gets pulled out at this time of year...