Youngman 301000 Telescopic Loft Ladder

Is the Youngman 301000 Telescopic Loft Ladder worth buying?

The Youngman 301000 Telescopic Loft Ladder is worth buying at £189.95 if the gap between your finished floor and the top of the loft floor measures between 2.17 m and 2.61 m, and you want the existing hatch left exactly as it is. It is an anodised aluminium telescopic ladder that folds down into a casing of its own, so there is nothing to shorten and no joist to cut. Anyone with a taller ceiling, or anyone whose priority is reach for the money, should look at a fixed 3-section ladder instead.

It carries a 150 kg load rating and 344 owners rate it 4.5, which is a solid record for a £189.95 access ladder. The manufacturer covers it for 12 months. In short, the money buys a clean installation rather than extra capacity, because the weight and the load figures are the same as ladders that cost half as much.

How much does the Youngman 301000 Telescopic Loft Ladder cost per metre?

Divide the £189.95 price by the 2.61 m it reaches and each metre of access costs £72.78, or £73.06 if you take the 2.6 m in the model name. That is roughly two and a half times the £29.00 a metre the Abru 37000 asks for a full 3 m. The number matters because this ladder covers one 44 cm band, from 2.17 m up to 2.61 m, and it cannot be pushed beyond either end of it.

Adjusting to three lengths is what fills that band, so the ladder can be set to the height of your own landing instead of a fixed figure. The trade is that the £189.95 goes on the telescopic mechanism and the stowing casing rather than on height. A 2.9 m or 3 m loft is out of range altogether, however the ladder is set.

What comes in the box with the Youngman 301000 Telescopic Loft Ladder?

The delivery is the telescopic loft ladder itself, and fitting needs no more than basic tools and a second pair of hands. It is anodised aluminium, weighs 12 kg, and the rubber feet sit on the landing floor without scratching it. Nothing has to be cut to length, so the box contains the complete ladder.

Closed, the ladder measures 860 mm high, 480 mm wide and 120 mm deep, and the casing it disappears into is 510 mm wide and 600 mm long, small enough to sit between joists in most lofts. The hatch door and its frame are a separate purchase, which matters if the old hatch is the draughty part of your ceiling. At 12 kg it also needs two people at the moment it is lifted into the opening.

Where does the Youngman 301000 Telescopic Loft Ladder fall short?

It stops at 2.61 m, so a 3 m ceiling cannot be served by it at all, and the 2.17 m minimum rules out a shallow loft in the same way. Those two figures are the whole working window, and no adjustment gets you outside them. Buy this ladder for the height band rather than for the ladder itself.

The price is the harder limit. At £73.06 a metre it costs £44.06 more per metre than the Abru 37000 and £46.40 more than the Werner Easy Stow, both of which reach 3 m. The warranty is 12 months where the Werner carries five years. At 12 kg it is also more than twice the weight of the 5 kg Abru when you are lifting it above your head.

Is the Youngman 301000 Telescopic Loft Ladder better than the Abru 37000?

The Abru 37000 costs £86.99, which is £102.96 less, and it reaches a full 3 m at £29.00 a metre. Its opening needs only 381 mm of clear width, it comes with a stowing pole and fittings, and 1,049 owners rate it 4.4. Buy the Abru if you can fit a standard 3-section ladder and want the most height for the least money.

The Werner Easy Stow is the other rival at £79.99, £109.96 less, and it also covers 3 m with a spring-assisted stow and a five-year warranty. The Youngman 301000 wins only when the hatch must stay untouched and the ceiling measures inside the 2.17 m to 2.61 m band. If the casing matters less than the price, the Werner is the cheaper route to the same loft.