DIYHD 96" Knotty Pine Sliding Library Ladder with Oval Cut-Out Grip

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.

The kit was easy to assemble and allowed me to build the bookcase of my dreams. I got the wheels for it and two lengths of bar track, built a 6-foot-wide by 10-foot-high bookcase from red oak, and finished both bookcase and ladder to match in mahogany gel stain. It's quite sturdy and glides smoothly with or without a person's weight. I couldn't be happier.

We used this ladder to provide access to the space over a large closet to create a small balcony. It is clearly not the best ladder one can buy and at the price it is a very good bargain. Assembly was not a challenge, the hardware is of good quality and it works well. If you are using it as I did it is important to plan a hand rail at the top. I used a 4' piece of 1/2" plumbing pipe (available at any big box hardware store or plumbing supply), two flanges for connecting to the wall and two right angle joints to connect the pieces. This makes a very sturdy and convenient railing and the space between the wall and pipe is perfect with the right angle connections.

Used as a ladder for a treehouse. Held the stain well.

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 lacking What'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.

It was perfect for our project. We found it reasonably easy to assemble, but just pay attention to the holes you need to leave last to add the black metal inserts for the longer ladders that come with it. The one we got had no flaws and came out perfect. It feels sturdy enough for an adult that's around 250 lbs to climb it. We bought some extra hardware from a different online store (that does bids/auctions too), so we can elevate it when it's not in use. We didn't want it to roll side to side but with the tracks we can still move it however we want.

I loved the design of the rolling library ladders with their integrated grab handles. They are to go into my library and study with book cases that are 13 feet high. My office is nicely appointed and features great furniture in a functional but distinctive design. I wanted two library ladders that will also be seen and used as great furniture. The problem is that the knotty pine wood used in these ladders is TERRIBLE. It is full of knots and difficult to finish. We first attempted to us a stain, but the combination of the knots in the wood and wood filler they added when being crafted looks bad. Next we went to having them painted with a flat black paint. Again, the poor quality wood and the knots makes therm look cheap. Finally they are out to be re-sanded for the third time and painted with a ticker satin finish black paint in an attempt to cover up the low quality wood. SUMMARY: If you are ordering these library ladders for a storage room or your garage, they will work fine. However, if you are ordering them for your home or office and care about the quality of the finished product, these are NOT the product for you to buy. Look elsewhere and insist on a quality hardwood like OAK or Hickory or Maple, but NOT KNOTTY PINE!

Product came in pcs in a box. But this ladder was the EASIEST thing to put together. It is very well planned for home assembly. I am very happy with this purchase.

I took the time to do proper prep work including reaming out existing holes, sanding and using a utility knife to clean any splinters where the steps would be inserted and applying 3 coats of Polyurethane. The railing hardware to hang the ladder is also of great quality. Very happy with this configuration.

Easy to assemble