Best extension ladder for gutter cleaning
For gutters and second-story work: how to match a ladder to your gutter height, when fiberglass matters, and when to hire the job out.
If your gutters sit 17 to 21 feet up and you can manage about 60 pounds, buy the Werner T6228-2GS, a 28-foot fiberglass ladder with a spring that helps raise the top section.1 2 3 If you'd rather skip the spring, the Louisville FE3228 does the same job with a plain rope and pulley.4
For a one-story house with gutters at 12 feet or lower and no wires near the eaves, the aluminum Gorilla MPXA 2.0 is lighter and also works as a stepladder.5 6 If a wire runs anywhere near where you'd carry or raise the ladder, rule out aluminum and look at a 20-foot fiberglass ladder instead.1 7
Hire a gutter service if your gutters are above about 21 feet, the roof is steep, a wire runs close to the gutter, or you're in your mid-50s or older and unsteady on ladders. No ladder here makes those jobs safe.1 7 8
Our picks
How they compare
| Werner T6228-2GS | Louisville FE3228 | Gorilla MPXA 2.0 | Ladder-Max standoff | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Two-story gutters | Two-story gutters, no spring | One-story gutters, no wires | Protecting the gutter |
| Gutter height | 17 to 21 ft | 17 to 21 ft | 12 ft or lower | Not applicable |
| Rails | Fiberglass | Fiberglass | Aluminum | Not applicable |
| Load rating | Type IA, 300 lb | Type IA, 300 lb | Type IA, 300 lb | 375 lb |
| Weight | 59.5 lb | 58 to 60 lb | 30.5 lb | Not listed |
| Raising it | Spring lift assist | Rope and pulley | Rail locks, set lying down | Adds weight up top |
Werner 28-ft Fiberglass Extension Ladder with GlideSafe
Good fit if: two-story homes with gutters between 17 and 21 feet, including those with wires somewhere near the house
Model T6228-2GS
- Easier raise than a rope ladder
- Fiberglass rails, advised near wires
- Room for tools at 300 pounds
- Latches shut for carrying
- Heavy at 59.5 pounds
- No help carrying or standing up
- Extra parts, no long-term record
- Tops out near 21-foot gutters
Fiberglass rails and a Type IA rating, meaning 300 pounds, are what a two-story gutter job calls for.3 7 What sets this ladder apart is the lift assist, a spring system much like a garage door's that reduces the effort of raising the upper section and controls its descent.2 9
Werner says the assist cuts the force to raise the upper section by up to 50 percent compared with its own D6200, and that the figure varies with size and friction, so read that as a ceiling.2 Nobody has measured it independently. A remodeling carpenter with almost 30 years on extension ladders said in a video that it slides up and down with less effort than older ladders, which is one person's impression.10 Owner reports are too thin to show any pattern of failures.
The lift assist doesn't help you carry the ladder or stand it up, and that's the harder part for one person. The spring, cable and auto-lock are also extra parts on a line launched in 2021, so nobody knows yet how they age.2
Verdict: Buy this if you'll do two-story gutters yourself and want the easier raise. Skip it if you'd rather have fewer parts, or if 60 pounds is too much for you even with a helper.
Louisville Ladder 28 ft Fiberglass Extension Ladder, Type IA
Good fit if: two-story homes, if you don't want a spring system
Model FE3228
- No spring or cable to wear out
- Swivel shoes for hard ground or soil
- Matches the Werner on rating
- Heavy at 58 to 60 pounds
- You raise the top section by hand
- Some 2007 units were recalled
- Few outside reviews
This is the conventional way to do the job, with fiberglass rails, a 300-pound rating, a rope and a pulley. Louisville gives a maximum extended length of 25 feet and says its swivel shoes work tread-down on hard ground or spiked into soil.4 The choice between this and the Werner comes down to the lift assist.
This Old House picks it as its heavy-duty choice, without saying it tested the ladder. It calls this the heaviest ladder in its review, at 60 pounds, and more expensive than its other picks, which were mostly lighter telescoping models.11
If you buy used, check the rail. CPSC's 2008 recall covered FE3228 ladders made in September and October 2007 because the upper section could fail to lock, with a free repair kit as the fix. Ladders with two green dots near the bottom of the left base rail had already been inspected or repaired and aren't covered. The recall doesn't apply to current production.12
Verdict: Buy this if you want a simple ladder with nothing extra to go wrong. Buy the Werner if the easier raise is worth the added parts to you.
Gorilla Ladders 18-ft MPXA 2.0 Multi-Position Ladder
Good fit if: one-story homes with gutters at 12 feet or lower and no wires near the eaves
Model GLMPXA-18-2
- About half the weight of 28-foot fiberglass
- Doubles as a stepladder indoors
- Type IA, above Type II aluminum ladders
- Aluminum conducts electricity
- Too short for two stories
- Locks need checking every setup
- Takes time to learn
Don't read this as a cheaper version of the Werner. The 18-foot figure is hand reach, with a ladder length of 14 feet 10 inches, and the highest standing level in Gorilla's table is 11 feet 7 inches.5 6 That suits one-story gutters and nothing taller.
It earns its place as a house ladder. At 30.5 pounds, it also works as a stepladder up to 7 feet 5 inches and as a stairway ladder, so one purchase covers indoor jobs too.5 Bob Vila's reviewer of the 22-foot version reported much less bounce at full height than a traditional extension ladder, though they needed the manual to learn the locks.13
Every setup depends on those locks. You have to lay the ladder down to change its height, and you must check that no red shows on each rail lock.6 No recall names this ladder, but other makers' adjustable ladders have been recalled over their locks.14 15 Aluminum also conducts, and CPSC's rule for metal ladders means keeping this one about 30 feet from the nearest overhead line, which is twice its length.7
Verdict: Buy it if you have a one-story house, clear eaves and indoor jobs to cover. If wires run near the eaves, buy a 20-foot fiberglass ladder instead.
Ladder-Max Original Ladder Standoff Stabilizer
Good fit if: anyone whose gutters would dent, or who needs to work over the gutter
- Keeps rails off the gutter
- 19 inches of working room
- 375-pound rating
- Makes the ladder top-heavy
- Harder to raise and position
- No published safety test
- Holds you farther from the wall
A standoff is a bracket that holds the top of the ladder away from the wall. Ladder-Max sells this one as its Original Fixed Arm Standoff Stabilizer.16 Bob Vila lists 19 inches of standoff and a 375-pound rating, though it didn't test this product.3
Buy it for your gutters and for working room, not as fall protection. Ladder-Max says its products are ANSI tested and OSHA compliant, but it publishes no test results that we could find, and the only testing detail is a 2006 trade note naming Eastern Washington University.16 17 A few Garage Journal posters say a standoff makes a ladder feel steadier, and one warns that it puts you farther from the wall, which can make some reaches less safe.18
Bob Vila warns that it makes the ladder top-heavy and harder to position, and that matters most during raising, one of the ways ladders end up touching wires.3 7 Check the fit on your ladder before you buy, and measure the 4-to-1 setback from where the standoff touches the house.19
Verdict: Add this if you have vinyl or thin aluminum gutters that would dent, or you need to work over the gutter. Expect a harder lift.
How to choose
Decide whether you should be up there
Short falls at home can kill. One trauma center reviewed five years of ladder falls and found 58 patients who fell more than 1 meter and went to intensive care. Of those, 26 percent died in the hospital. The deaths were almost all older men, aged 55 or above, in home falls of 3 meters (about 10 feet) or less, and they died of brain injury.8 So a one-story gutter isn't a safe height, and if you're in your mid-50s or older, weigh hiring the job out even on a low house.
This is mostly a home problem. An emergency room study estimated about 136,000 ladder injuries a year in the US from 1990 to 2005, and 97.3 percent of those with a recorded location happened outside work.20
Measure to the gutter, then buy by support height
Measure from the ground to the gutter, then use the support height on Werner's chart, not the reach number on the label. The chart gives a 20-foot ladder for 9 to 13 feet, a 24-foot for 13 to 17 feet, a 28-foot for 17 to 21 feet and a 32-foot for 21 to 25 feet.1 Most two-story gutters, at around 19 to 20 feet, call for 28 feet.
The number on the box misleads in two ways. Reach is the height a person's hand can get to, not where the ladder's top rests.21 And the two sections overlap, so a 28-foot ladder extends only about 25 feet.4 Werner's rule of thumb is to buy 7 to 10 feet more ladder than your highest support point.1 21
You may also hear that a ladder must extend 3 feet past the gutter. That's an OSHA construction rule for reaching an upper landing, so it applies when you step onto the roof, and it doesn't bind homeowners.19 Werner's chart builds it in anyway.1
Look up before you choose a material
CPSC names gutter cleaning as a job where people get electrocuted, and it reported 15 non-work deaths from 2000 to 2009 in which a ladder touched a wire around the home. The line from the street to the house counts, many overhead lines aren't insulated, and a coated line still doesn't protect you.7
CPSC advises fiberglass near overhead wires, but fiberglass is a backup, not permission to work near a wire. OSHA says a dirty, wet or damaged fiberglass ladder can conduct, and that nonconductive rails are no guarantee.7 22 Keep any ladder away from wires. For a metal or wood ladder, CPSC says to stay at least twice the ladder's length from the nearest line, which is 56 feet for a 28-foot ladder.7 If a ladder starts to fall toward a line, let it go.7
Aluminum makes sense only if no wire comes near any spot where you'll carry, raise or use the ladder. A few Garage Journal posters prefer it for occasional work because fiberglass is much heavier to move, though they call fiberglass stiffer once it's set.23
Check the load rating
Add your weight to your boots, tools and bucket. Type IAA carries 375 pounds, Type IA 300, Type I 250, Type II 225 and Type III 200.11 Read the label on budget aluminum ladders, because some are only Type II, which leaves little margin for a heavier adult with a loaded bucket.11 24
Be honest about the weight
A 28-foot Type IA fiberglass ladder weighs close to 60 pounds and folds to about 14 feet.3 4 11 CPSC advises getting help to carry and set up a long ladder, and it lists moving a ladder as one of the ways people touch overhead wires.7 A ladder that's too heavy to reset also tempts you to reach.
Set the angle with a tape, not by eye
Set the base out one quarter of the working length, so about 5 feet for a 20-foot working length.25 In a NIOSH lab study of 40 people, half of them experienced, setups with no instructions averaged 71.3 degrees against a 75.5-degree target, and 35.6 percent came in below 70 degrees. A shallower ladder is more likely to slide: going from 75 to 65 degrees nearly doubles the friction needed at the feet.26
Measure the setback with a tape, or use a bubble level, which a follow-up study found accurate but slow.27 NIOSH's free Ladder Safety app gives an angle signal on your phone, though NIOSH says it isn't being updated now.28
Move the ladder instead of reaching
In a simulated gutter-clearing task, 40 percent of 104 older adults overreached at least once, which means the force at the ladder's base moved outside the ladder's width.29 Plan on moving the ladder many times.
Keep your feet at or below the fourth rung from the top, as Werner advises. OSHA's safety card says to stay off the top three.21 25 Use a tool belt or a hook for the bucket, because 71 percent of straight ladder users in a survey of 102 older adults said they climbed with items in their hands.30
Others we looked at
- Little Giant ladders with Rapid Locks (including Multi, MegaLite, Conquest 2.0 and King Kombo XT)Recalled. CPSC announced a recall of about 3,662,000 of these on November 5, 2026, because they can suddenly retract if the locks aren't fully engaged. It names the Adjustable Fortress 2.0, Conquest 2.0, Dark Horse 2.0, Epic, King Kombo XT, Leveler, MegaLite, MegaLite+, Multi, Quantum and Vector, except ladders with an orange rectangular QC sticker on the rail above a Rapid Lock. CPSC cites 19 injuries, three of them to the head. Don't buy one without that sticker. If you own one without it, stop using the ladder and contact Little Giant at 866-201-9069 for the repair kit, which is warning labels and instructions.14
- Werner ALMP-20IAA and ALMP-24IAA Multi-Max ProRecalled in August 2025 with a refund, because the lock can jam and not fully lock. CPSC cites 18 falls and 14 injuries. Stop using one and contact Werner if you own it.15
- Werner T6220-2GSThe 20-foot GlideSafe, and the better one-story choice if a wire runs near the house. Werner's chart puts this size at 9 to 13 feet of support height, and the line shares fiberglass rails and a 300-pound rating.1 2
- Werner D6228-2Werner's conventional 28-foot Type IA fiberglass ladder without the lift assist. It suits anyone who wants Werner's accessories without the spring system.2 31
- Werner D1224-2An aluminum ladder rated only Type II, which leaves little room for tools.24 Werner's chart stops at about 17 feet of support height for its length, so it can't serve a 19-foot gutter.1
- Xtend+Climb 780P+Bob Vila called it the sturdiest telescoping ladder it tried, and it stores small. Its hand reach is 16 feet 6 inches, so it suits one-story work only.3
How we picked
We haven't tested these ladders ourselves. No independent lab has measured any of them, so the picks rest on maker specs, editorial reviews and government safety guidance. The injury research points to setup, overreaching and age more than to brand. The figures cover all ladder types, and the main set ends in 2005.
Since 2006, CPSC has listed one extension ladder recall against five for adjustable types, but a recall count isn't a failure rate.[s17,s18,s19,s20,s21,s36] Nobody has published a test of whether standoffs reduce falls. Louisville lists the FE3228's weight as 58 with no unit, and This Old House gives 60 pounds.[s16,s26] We have few owner reports on these models and no long-term durability data. None of the picks in their current production appeared in CPSC's recall listings on November 5, 2026.
Sources
- Ladder Height, extension ladder reach guide (New Zealand site) Werner
- New Werner GLIDESAFE Extension Ladder Takes Ease-Of-Use to the Next Level Werner, 2021
- The Best Ladders for Gutter Cleaning Bob Vila, 2025
- Louisville Ladder 28-foot Fiberglass Extension Ladder, Type IA, FE3228 Louisville Ladder
- GLMPXA-18-2 product page Gorilla Ladders
- GLMPXA-14-2, 18-2, 22-2, 22B manual Gorilla Ladders, 2023
- Ladders and Electricity Don't Mix (Publication 5060) CPSC, 2012
- Danger at every rung: Epidemiology and outcomes of ICU-admitted ladder-related trauma Injury, 2016
- GLIDESAFE Extension Ladders Werner
- Werner GLIDESAFE Ladder Concord Carpenter (YouTube), 2021
- Best Extension Ladders This Old House
- Louisville Ladder Recalls Extension Ladders Due to Fall Hazard CPSC, 2008
- Gorilla Ladder review Bob Vila
- Little Giant Recalls Ladders with Rapid Locks Due to Risk of Serious Injury from Fall Hazard CPSC, 2026
- Werner Recalls 20' and 24' Multi-Max Pro Multi-Purpose Ladders Due to Fall Hazard CPSC, 2025
- Ladder-Max store home page Ladder-Max
- Ladder Stabilizer (new product note) Roofing Contractor, 2006
- Ladder - stand offs? (forum thread) Garage Journal
- 29 CFR 1926.1053, Ladders OSHA, current