Painting Your House? 4 Ladder Safety Tips

Whether you're painting your bathroom or your shed, you'll need a ladder to reach the top corners. For some, balance is tricky at the best of times; stretching from the top of your ladder to dab paint on the ceiling can be frightening at best and downright dangerous at worst.

Fortunately, today's ladders are built with safety in mind. As long as you know how to operate your ladder correctly, you can paint your home safely or, if you're having professionals paint for you, prepare your home to accommodate and protect them while they work.

Before you even set up the ladder, make sure the room you're painting is free of obstructions that will make maneuvering the ladder difficult. This piece of advice goes for DIY painters and those who choose to hire professional painters - in the former case, you need to protect yourself, and in the latter, you want to make the job as easy, painless, and safe for your professional team as possible.

Make sure the room you're painting isn't cluttered. Take all toys, books, clothes, or anything else on the floor out of the room so workers can space out the ladder appropriately. You should also remove or cover anything else in the room that you don't want damaged, both for its protection and yours.

If you or your painting professionals are painting the outside of your house, you'll need an extension ladder to reach the roof or wall. Since the ladder will lean against the side of the house, check that your gutters are secure and debris-free.

Different ladders are made to serve different purposes and to carry different weights. The ladder should have a label on the side that tells you how much weight it holds. If the label is missing, visit your local hardware store to ask an expert for more information on your ladder's make and model or to purchase a new one.

Your ladder also needs to be the correct height for the job. You should never stand on the ladder's very top rung to reach what you're trying to paint. Instead, the top rung is there to balance and support you. For best results, you should stand several rungs down from the top - somewhere slightly above the middle of the ladder - to reach the wall you're painting without overbalancing. If your ladder isn't tall enough for you to do this, purchase a new one.

In general, professional painters will bring their own ladder to your home. If, for whatever reason, they're using your ladder instead, make sure the ladder is sturdy enough to carry their weight and tall enough that they can get the job done without endangering themselves.

Once you know your ladder is safe to use, make sure you use it correctly: