Customer Reviews

Werner AA10 250-Pound Duty Rating Televator Aluminum Universal Telescoping Attic Ladder, 10-Foot

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought a 8' televator ladder. The ladder installation was simple. The instruction were great (and I am not a handy person). They claim it's a one person job. I found that to be quite true. There is a well thought out installaiton procedure and well designed parts (assuming you read directions carefully). The only down side is that it does not come with a door. I assume this is because the opening sizes vary so much. They do provide all the necessary hardware and (excellent) templates for drilling holes. You have to measure, buy and finish is the plywood for the door. Unfortunatly this can be pricey. I had to buy a whole 4x8 sheet of birch plywood and only used a fraction of it. The directions for the door assembly are a little less clear than the ladder install but I managed with out too much hassle. The only other thing I can think of now that I didn't think about when I was installing was that the ladder reduces the overall size of the attic access hole. We now have to re-box some things in the attic so we can fit them through the smaller access. Some bigger things in the attic may require removal of the stairs but I think that won't be too bad to do if/when I need to do it. It is great not having to stash a step ladder upstairs any more. I knew I had to do something after my wife fell off the step ladder while climbing out of the attic one day. This is a great alternative when you don't have the space for a real set of stairs.

February 2012: Just a quick update. I bought this ladder in 2007. Now, in 2012 it is still working great. The door latch broke a year ago and the company sent me a replacement immediately at no cost. Other than that, I have had no issues with this product and would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Finally--a pull-down attic ladder for homes with small attic openings!!! I've been searching for soemthing like this for years, and I'm so glad that Werner has finally developed a product to meet the attic access needs of the rest of us! It's exactly what I've been looking for!

The ladder arrived well-packaged with all the necessary parts logically organized into separate bags for each step of the process--including the parts for the attic door (which is not included). The instructions left nothing to chance--they were were well-conceived, well-written, and easy to follow, ensuring a relatively simple installation process (at least for the ladder installation part; the attic door installation is another story).

The product description claims that the installation is a one-person job, but my dad and I did it together and I think it was a lot easier that way. He had read the instructions ahead of time, but when we actually got to the installation, having two people allowed us one person to organize the parts, read the instructions, and hand parts and tools up to the person standing on the ladder doing the work. We spent approximately 2-1/2 hours on the ladder installation, and another hour or so on the door installation.

The only drawback to such helpful instructions was that they are so detailed that you have to actually READ the instructions very carefully or you may miss an important detail. The instruction manual was not designed to be skimmed, and when I paged through it looking for answers to specific questions, those answers never popped out at me--even if I had already seen that information somewhere. I am usually pretty methodical and don't mind reading instructions, but having been raised by a father that is a DIY handyman, I know that DIY-ers are often tinkerers who toss the instructions aside and figure it out as they go along. With this product, that mindset might get you there eventually, but the engineers and technical writers seem to have thought of everything to create a manual that even the non-handy can follow, so you might as well slow down, read the instructions, follow every step in order, use every part (even if you think it's unnecessary), and save yourself the trouble of trying to figure it out or having to do rework because you jumped ahead.

Where the instructions fell short was when it came time to install the attic door. The first problem was that as many time as I read, skimmed, and paged through the manual prior to installation, I couldn't find anything to tell me what size the attic door should be. I could tell from the pictures on the box that the door would be bigger than the access hole, but I couldn't find the dimensions anywhere. Finally, when we got to the door installation and had all the holes drilled in the header boards, I found that the door would need to be 1-1/2 inches longer and wider than the hole (now you know!). This would have been helpful information to have prior to beginning the job so that we could have had the door ready to go. Instead, when we got to that point in the job, we had to leave to go to the hardware store to get a piece of wood, which we then had to bring home, cut to size, and finish--the whole time leaving my attic access gaping open on a hot summer day. I didn't want to leave the hole open any longer than I had to, so now I have to wait for a pleasant day to take the door down again to paint it. This information should have been on page one along with a list of what would be needed to complete the installation.

The other challenge with the door installation was that the instructions became a bit vague. The steps were clear and logical, and the templates were incredibly helpful for drilling all the holes for the hinges, dampers, door latch, etc. But the parts bag for the door installation included 3 different types of screws, and the instructions simply said each time to attach x (the hinges, dampers, etc.) "using the hardware provided" but never telling which screws to use for what. So we had to sit there, look at how many holes needed screws, figure out where they were all going, and sort out which screws should be used where.

All in all, for as complicated as the product and the installation seem, the instructions left little to chance (and where they did become vague, we were quickly able to figure it out). The ladder is perfect for my purposes, and the entire product seems to be well-conceived, well-engineered, and well-constructed. It pulls down easily and stows away easily, and not only does it not require a large attic opening, but it also does not require a large footprint on the floor. For any home with a small attic opening with tight access, this is the way to go!

This product is great for DIY installation. As long as your attic opening is at least 22"x22" then it works perfectly. It took about 1 hour to install the ladder itself. The manual is pretty clear on which tools you need. It does not come with a door, but does include all the hardware and templates required to create your own, which is actually pretty easy. You can get a 4x4 piece of 1/2" birch or oak plywood at Lowe's or Home Depot for about $15. They will even cut it to dimensions for you in the store so you don't have to deal with ripping the plywood. Bring your opening measurements (plus 1.5 inches in each dimension) and you are set. Add some corner trim or wainscoting cap around the edges to make it blend in better, just make sure you put the trim on last. The only tool required that may not be common is a 2" hole saw for the latch in the door. My only complaint was that the last few steps of the directions for building the door were a bit shaky (they even inserted a corrected page that was still off a bit). Other than that, this is a fantastic product.

As many of the reviews have stated, this is a great product that fills a need well.

One detail not covered in the product description relates to the choice of 8ft versus 10ft version where the attic joists are more than 4 to 6 inches high. I live in a custom home where the joists are 2x12 and found that the 8ft ladder was not tall enough despite having an 8ft ceiling height. If the ladder is mounted near the bottom of the joist the ladder cannot pivot out sufficently to allow easy climbing, that is, it ends up being almost vertical. Mounting the ladder higher up on the joist resulted in a ladder not quite long enough to reach the floor. Ray at Werner customer support stated that an additional collapsing step was simply not available. He suggested 3 solutions: 1. Exchange the ladder for the 10ft model; 2. Cut the joist down to a smaller size (which would result in a joist not properly designed to support the roof load; or 3. Build a wooden box to put under the ladder at the base (certainly not convenient for use or storage). Since we had already partially installed the ladder, returning it wasn't an option. The only difference between the 8ft and 10ft model is additional collapsing steps with side rail pieces, so I can't understand why someone couldn't just grab a step from the assembly bins and ship it out, especially since Ray stated that this situation had happened before. Obviously customer support had not bothered to address this issue or mention it to the people creating marketing information for this product. The solution we used was to use a couple of pieces of 3/8" x 3" x 20" aluminum to extend the legs of the ladder the additional 6 inches we needed. Using a table saw the aluminum stock was shaved down on both sides to create a ledge to stop the stock from sliding up into the ladder side rails beyond 14 inches, thus giving us our 6 inch extension. The side rail had holes that were used as a drilling guide to drill through the stock to allow securing with #10 bolts. This worked well. So, if you have joists deeper than 4 to 6 inches, consider getting the 10 foot ladder model even if your ceiling is only 8 feet high. And don't expect much help from Werner customer support.

Length:: 2:19 Mins

I installed mine yesterday and WAO this is awesome !!!! the installation manual is the best, only one person is necessary to install it , and the quality of the ladder is very very good, HIGHLY recommended, see the video

This is the perfect solution to our small attic opening. It allows me to go into the attic any time I'd like. Before we had an opening that was too heavy for me to open and insulation fell down each time. Now I have a nice door with a pole to easily gain access and a ladder that is so easy to pull down and push up. As for installation, it seemed to go quickly. I had someone install it for me and it took him about 2 hours. The door is what took longer to create. I would recommend this to anyone with a small opening, what a difference!!!

This is the perfect product for a small attic opening. It was well packaged and the instructions were well written. My only wish would be that the part where you create the hatch was easier. The install of the ladder took about an hour and the hatch took probably another 3. The good part is that you have total flexibility for the install, but that flexibility comes at the cost of time.

As noted in the other reviews, the instructions are great and the ladder can be installed quickly. Its very cool and seems to work well, and its a joy to free up a bedroom closet by moving the step ladder out to a shed. But ... the Televator takes up part of the opening, whether open or closed. I may have to remove it from its bracket to get a couple of items out, a job that fortunately should only take a few minutes.

A 300 pound rating might be better for the bigger among us, although it seems very steady for my 155 pound weight.

With the recommended door design, it must be better sealed than your average attic door, since it has a latch. Personally, I don't think that's good enough, since there's no room for insulation. I plan to plug the hole with foam rubber and one could also attach insulation to the underside of the door. If you go either route, you'll probably want to increase the clearance between the bracket and door. Unfortunately, there's next to none if you install the bracket flush to the ceiling, as instructed. You can install it higher if your joists are larger than 4", which I'd recommend. Only catch is that the bottom of the brack has a lip, so you'll have to cut a thin and shallow (quarter inch deep or so) slot in your joist, which makes the job a little harder. If you intend to go this route, don't forget to add your offset to the length of the ladder when choosing whether to get the AA8 or AA10 and in adjusting the ladder during installation.

The install kit included everything we needed to replace an existing pull down ladder that was damaged with this new telescoping ladder. So instead of removing the existing ladder frame and replacing it (along with the door trim and a big mess), this telescoping ladder easily fit into the existing frame. Saved us a huge amount of time and mess because we could use the same door and frame.

I installed this for a friend last week and loved installing it. The instruction manual is VERY well written with everything clearly labeled what you need to do. The manual says you need a minimum 22" x 22" opening. Here's the thing: The 10' ladder is made of 11 sections to reach the full 10'. If you have a shorter ceiling then you can remove 1 or 2 sections. The manual shows clearly what you need to do. For my friends 8' ceiling I removed 2 sections and the width of the unit is then only 19.75" wide. When you add on the feet on the bottom it comes to 20" wide. The opening we had was 20.5" x 36". The ladder fit with no problems! After doing this I would recommend a rectangular opening such as that so when everything is installed there is enough room for you on the ladder plus the items you are carrying up and down it.

The only bad thing was the instructions for the door. It was if a different person wrote what needed to be done for installing the door. The door is not included but details are given what you need to do. The ladder installation would say exactly what hardware to use. The door installation would say "use appropriate hardware". So it took a few extra minutes before starting to make sure I used the proper hardware in the proper places. That is the only negative thing I can say about this ladder. The engineering on it and quality are both exceptional. HIGHLY recommended!