Guide to Ladder Jacks and Turning Two Ladders Into a Scaffold

Guide to Ladder Jacks and Turning Two Ladders Into a Scaffold

Ladder jacks are the brackets that clip onto two extension ladders and hold a plank between them, turning a pair of ladders into an elevated work platform. For siding, soffit and fascia, painting, and any job that runs horizontally along a wall, they are faster to set up and take down than a scaffold and they fit where a scaffold will not. Dallas Ladder stocks them at our Rowlett warehouse.

What Ladder Jacks Solve

A stepladder is good for one spot. A scaffold is good for a long run but takes time to build and needs room at the base. Ladder jacks sit between the two: you lean two extension ladders against the wall, clip a bracket on each at the height you want, and drop a plank across them.

That gives you a continuous platform you can slide along the wall as you work, which is exactly what siding and fascia jobs need. Setup is minutes, and the whole thing comes off the truck in one trip.

Our Werner aluminum ladder jacks are the pair we sell for this.

Capacities and Limits

Ladder jacks are rated as a pair with the plank, not individually, and the rating assumes both ladders are properly set and on stable ground. Exceed the plank rating and you have built something that will fail without warning, so the plank matters as much as the brackets.

Ladder jacks are also not a substitute for fall protection at height, and they are not rated for standing on the top rungs of the ladders they hang from. The ladders still have to be set at the correct angle with the base out and the top resting on something solid.

For planks, our 7 foot aluminum plank and the Werner expanding plank are what crews pair with jacks most often.

Where They Do Not Belong

Ladder jacks are for horizontal runs on a flat wall. They are the wrong tool on uneven ground, on a sloped or stepped wall, and anywhere a ladder would have to be tied off or offset around an obstacle. In those cases a scaffold tower is the honest answer even though it takes longer.

They also should not be used over a walkway or a doorway where someone could pass underneath without looking up.

Pairing Them With the Right Ladder

Ladder jacks only work as well as the ladders under them. Both ladders need the same duty rating, matching length, and enough overlap to be stable at the height you are working.

Our extension ladder category has fiberglass and aluminum options in the lengths that pair with jacks, and the full ladder range covers everything else.

Everything ships from 5030 Dexham Rd. Ste. 103 in Rowlett, TX, and local crews can pick up the same day. Call 972-331-1090 and we will tell you what is on the floor right now.