Youngman 301001 Telescopic Loft Ladder

Is the Youngman 301001 Telescopic Loft Ladder worth buying?

The Youngman 301001 Telescopic Loft Ladder is worth the £214.95 if you have around 2.9 m between the floor and the loft floor and you would rather not cut anything to get up there. It opens to three lengths, so it covers a band of ceiling heights instead of one exact measurement, and 292 owners rate it 4.6. It is not the cheap way into a loft, but it is the tidy one.

Buy it when the hatch stays exactly as it is. Nothing needs shortening, trimming or joinery, which is the entire point of a telescopic design, and the anodised aluminium keeps its finish in a landing you look at every day. Skip it if your loft measures 2.6 m, or if you are happy to cut and fit an aluminium ladder for under £90.

What does 2.9 m of reach cost per metre?

Divide the £214.95 by the 2.9 m it climbs to and every metre of access costs £74.12. Set that against the Abru 37000 at £86.99 for a full 3 m, which is £29.00 a metre, and this ladder asks £45.12 more per metre while stopping 10 cm lower. In short, the reach is not where the money goes.

The £127.96 price gap buys a different installation, not more ladder. A telescopic model retracts into its own slim footprint rather than swinging down out of the hatch, so the loft floor stays clear and no ladder hangs over the landing. That tidy footprint is what the £74.12 a metre pays for, and only you can say whether it is worth it.

What do you get in the box and what is it like to live with?

The box holds the telescopic loft ladder and nothing else, so there is no hatch or trap door with it. Ten steps carry you up the full 2.9 m, the ladder takes 150 kg, and the rubber feet sit on the landing floor without scuffing it. Closed, it measures roughly 86.8 cm wide, 47.8 cm deep and 12.6 cm thick, which slides into a shallow space at the top of the climb.

At 13 kg it is a two-person lift into the ceiling, and once it is seated, extending it is a case of pulling the sections down and letting them lock at whichever of the three lengths suits your height. Anodised aluminium in silver needs nothing more than a wipe, and there is nothing to oil or adjust on a ladder of this type.

Where does the Youngman 301001 fall short?

It stops at 2.9 m, so a ceiling of 3 m or more needs a different ladder, and it is one of the dearest ways to reach a loft on the market. The warranty runs for 12 months, against five years on the Werner Easy Stow, and at 13 kg you will want a second pair of hands holding it while the fixings go in.

There is no hatch in the box, so budget for one if your ceiling has a bare board opening, which is where most of the heat leaves a loft anyway. The telescopic action also wants two hands and a clear run at the bottom of the climb, which gets awkward on a tight landing or where a chest of drawers sits under the opening.

How does it compare with the Abru 37000 and the Youngman 301000?

The Abru 37000 costs £86.99, which is £127.96 less, reaches a full 3 m and weighs 5 kg, so it is the better buy if you are willing to fit a 3-section ladder into the hatch and lift 5 kg instead of 13 kg. Its opening needs to be only 381 mm wide, and it arrives with a stowing pole, so the saving costs you nothing in reach.

The Youngman 301000 is the same telescopic idea 30 cm shorter: 2.6 m for £189.95, which is £25.00 less and 1 kg lighter. If your floor-to-loft measurement is 2.6 m, buy that one. If it is 2.9 m and no cutting is the priority, this is the model; if reach matters more than the hatch, the Abru wins on both height and price.