DIYHD 108" Unfinished Pine Wood Sliding Library Ladder with Metal Step Rolling Ladder

This ladder is amazing.It was delivered in great condition and went together well - all the parts were there and directions were clear. It's very sturdy and will be used to reach the bed loft in a tiny house.Our builder shaved off the legs a bit so we could lean the ladder out a bit further - it's now at an angle that's less steep and more comfortable for older people to use. He also build a sort of lip on reverse side of ladder - at top. It hangs over a sort of lower lip that's nailed along floor of loft. The ladder won't move once you've hooked it in.The hand holds that are built into the ladder are perfect and give you a place to hold on to all the way to the top.The ladder can be lifted off the lip when not using it and stored against the wall.We build a 16" barrier wall at top of loft - a picket fence look that leaves an opening for the ladder.Our ladder is up against the wall, so we put a grab bar on the wall at the top of ladder; it's to the right of ladder and is something to hold on to while hoisting yourself into the loft.The post of the picket fence barrier serves as another hand hold for stability.

Bought this as a way to get access to the loft in my garage (along with a library shelf rack). It's pretty heavy when assembled so you might need some help. The wheels are roller-blade style and slide SO well that you definitely will want to lock them in place before getting on the ladder. I was worried about sagging because the uprights are in 2 pieces, but that was not a problem given the heavy-duty steel brackets that hold the uprights together. There were a couple of holes that were not drilled precisely and I had to use a 1/4" dill on them, but other than that assembly was a breeze.

I read the many critical reviews of this ladder. We purchased it in spite of those reviews because other reviewers gave detailed workarounds for the problems encountered during assembly. The ladder components arrived undamaged. I could tell right away that the manufacturer had improved its quality control because the ladder’s hardware came sealed in plastic bags, and not loose in the box as some had reported. Also, there was a single page of instructions, whereas as others reported no instructions. The assembly video on Amazon was more helpful than the instructions page, however. I recommend viewing that before beginning assembly.The ladder’s rails were straight, and the treads (except for one) were unblemished. The blemish was not structural and we were able compensate for it by placing the tread where it wouldn’t be seen. We didn’t have any trouble lining up the holes in the treads with the corresponding holes in the rails, as other reviewers did. Also, the treads fit cleanly in their slots in the rails. None of the treads were too thick for their slots, as other reviewers found. The manufacturer provided an Allen wrench to fasten all of the hardware to the treads and rails. Using that was pretty tedious, and I recommend using a hex bit with a power screw driver. Assembly will go much faster.The ladder uses 4 tension rods to help stabilize it. We had problems with 2 of the tension rods during assembly. The holes in the rails to accommodate those tension rods were slightly too small. The tension rod fasteners had to be forced into the holes, and this caused the wood to be splintered around the holes. We had to repair the splintering using wood glue and wood putty. Before putting the tension rods in-place, I recommend testing the fasteners to see if they are too large for their holes in the rails. If so, use a drill to slightly enlarge the holes. Doing that will save you the grief of having to repair splintered wood.We’re pleased with the way the ladder finally turned out. However, I can only give it 4 stars because of the extra time it took to make repairs.

I'm an engineer and pretty handy, and needed 2 loft ladders. I read the reviews and bought them as they met my requirements and didn't have time to make my own.Here's the good:The look and feel nice and it's the wood quality is reasonable (not top but good for a nice looking ladder)The cost isn't exorbitant and is reasonably priced for a high quality loft ladder but their quality is seriously lackingWhat's not good:There are no instructions. Not in English nor in Chinese (where it's made)The manufacturing quality is very poor.- The steps should sit in the side slots firmly. Some do, some don't.- The screw holes in each step are not in the same place on every step, so there is irregularity between the different steps how far each step stick out in the front or back.- There is a chance that these ladders could be dangerous if improperly put together through no fault of the assembler, in particular if screws can't be properly sunk, or the treads are not fully engaged in the slot.-As you can see in the first picture, many of the screw insets (basically the nuts that they implanted into each step to receive the screw from the ladder size) are clogged up with wood when they were pressed into each ladder step. This is a root cause of many of the complaints listed in reviews here.- The screws use a 4 mm hex head and deforms easily if they encounter much resistance. If that happens you can screw the fastener in by using pliers.Overall the manufacturing is sloppy at best, and not typical of what you'd get from a domestic built product.****YOU NEED TO DO THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ASSEMBLING THE LADDER****Check each hole to see if there is wood in it. If there is wood in it, get a small drill bit that just fits in it (1/8" works) and use it to MANUALLY clean the wood out of the hole.Once you've checked all the holes and cleaned them out, you need to manually (or if you have a 4mm driver you can put in a drill second picture) run a screw in about 2/3 the way then back out until the screw moves in and out freely.Finally, you need to look at the side pieces of the ladder (3rd picture) and make sure that you clean all the chaff from the holes. If you don't you can again clog up the screws.Assembling the ladder should be easy, but their manufacturing tolerances make that difficult.One trick I found when the holes and slots for each tread were slightly misalligned was to slightly tighten each step on 1 side, then if the tread and slot didn't line up, use a utility knife to gently slice between the 2, creating a slight angle to all the tread to slip into the slot.As someone who has engineered and fielded scores of products for companies you've probably heard or / bought their products, it's clear It would be very easy for this manufacturer to tighten up their specifications and quality control / assurance program, to have an excellent, well manufactured product that could likely be assembled by most anyone in about 30 minutes with no hassles.They need at least "IKEA--like" pictograms on how this goes toghether.They need manufacturing tolerances that put the holes in the slots in the exact same place every time, and the holes in the end of each tread in the exact same place every time so the treads line up exactly.I'd be happy to re-review and upgrade this product if they make some improvements, possibly 5 stars in each area.They have the basis for an excellent product, but if they worked for me, I would fire their manufacturing supervisors an quality staff. Seriously.Read my other reviews, I'm uber positive on high quality products, and brutal on products that could easily do much better but offer little value or faulty production such as this ladder.