There are many step stools out in the market today. But do you know which
among those works for you safely? They have their promises of quality but you cannot tell unless you test it yourself.
How To Find A Safe Step Stool For Putting Up Christmas Decorations
When you want to put up your Christmas lights this season be sure to look for a lightweight heavy duty step stool with a large top surface instead of a ladder. In a lot of situations your ladder might be too bulky to set up properly. Sometimes if the ground is soggy the legs of the ladder may sink into the ground when you stand on it. Making the ladder unstable and possibly tip over, with you on it!!! Yikes. When you open the ladder to put up Christmas decorations around your house it can be very difficult to set it down on the ground without setting it on plants or around other decorations without making the ladder unstable or breaking the decorations. This is where a smaller step stool can get into tight places safely to provide the proper support for you while putting up Christmas lights on the outside of your house or putting the angel on the top of your Christmas tree. Just make sure the step stool doesn’t have any legs if you’re using it outside. Legs sink into the ground.
Using the right step stool you can make putting up Christmas lights easy and safe. And don’t forget that you have to take all those Christmas decorations down too. So make it safe and happy holidays for everyone by using a safe step stool to put your decorations and lights up. Your family will be glad you did.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems and designing step stools for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
The best way to find an auto repair shop is to ask questions. Ask your friends and family if they have had a good experience when getting their own car repaired at a shop. Ask yourself a few questions also. Like, What is important to me?, Price? Quality of repair?, Getting the repair done quickly? First you have to know what you expect in order to find an auto repair shop that will suit yourself.
Which Auto Repair Shop Is Right For Me?
Everyone is different and every auto repair shop is different. Some auto & truck owners want to wait until their vehicle breaks to repair it. Some owners want every detail of auto maintenance taken care of for them. There are so many shops to choose from that you must have some qualifying questions to ask before you take your vehicle to an auto repair shop. Asking how much the repair is going to cost is the biggest mistake an owner can make when trying to find the auto repair shop that’s right for them. Instead ask if the auto repair shop is a member of AAA, American Automobile Association or the BBB, better Business Bureau. Ask if any of the auto repair shop mechanics are ASE Certified. Ask what the shop warranty on repairs is.
The old bait and switch trick
Asking for a price over the phone before anyone has had looked at your car is a bad idea because you will get auto repair shops that will gladly give you a low price to get you and your car into their shop. Unfortunately, when you get the bill after the repair is done the price you were quoted is sometimes a fraction of what they want you to pay to get your car back. This called “bait and switch”. The shop lures you wit ha low price to get you to bring your car to their shop with no intention of honoring that price. Don’t think this can’t happen to you.
The Car Whisperer Online aka, David DuPont, is an ASE Certified Master Mechanic and has been working on cars since he was 9 years old. For the past 17 years David has been helping car owners with their auto repair problems at his auto repair shop, Kar Hospital, 3419 Ella Blvd., Houston Texas, 77018. www.KarHospital.com
Let’s look at how to buy a safe bariatric step stool. It doesn’t matter what type of step stool you are considering, folding step stool, a wooden step stool or a plastic step stool. The step stool has to be rated at 500 pounds for bariatric needs. What you are looking for is the load rating to be stamped on the step stool somewhere. Most large corporations with safety departments require a minimum of a 500 pound rating be stamped somewhere on the step stool. You should do the same.
Does that make it a safe step stool? The load rating only gives you an idea of how much a person can weigh and still stand on your particular step stool safely. Then look at the step stool, does it look sturdy? Does it have a large top surface? A large top surface will make stepping onto the step stool much easier. It also allows a person to turn and move in a different direction easily, like getting into a car or truck. Mobility is a problem for some bariatric patients, so a large top area on your step stool to maneuver is a feature you should definitely consider.
But maybe you don’t need a step stool with a large surface. Perhaps you need a bariatric step stool that is smaller and easy to store. If this is the case, be wary of folding step stools. They tend to be load rated less than 250 pounds and may not support larger people.
The next thing you will want to look at are the non-slip pads on the bottom of your bariatric step stool. Make sure your bariatric step stool has non-slip rubber pads to keep it from sliding on a smooth or wet floor. To check the non-slip pads on your step stool, feel the pads with your hand. If the pads feel like the soft rubber on your tennis shoe, it’s probably a good non-slip pad
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
Mechanics working at dealerships and auto repair shops will use what ever is convenient to make their work easier, even if it’s unsafe; like using a milk crate instead of a step stool. The reason a technician would do this is because they think it might save them a little time. Milk crates are a poor choice for a safe step stool. Milk crates will tip over if the mechanic is standing on the edge trying to reach over. Milk crates have nothing on the bottom to keep them from sliding and they are not designed to stand on them.
Auto mechanics have a couple of choices when it comes to buying a safe step stool for their repair shops. Let’s take a look at a couple of the step stools to see which will work for your auto repair shop. “How can you get the best step stool for your shop?”
Which Step Stool Is Right For Me?
Let’s take a look at the shop step stools out here. The most popular step stools for auto repair shop are the hook over the wheel step, a heavy duty metal 2 step stool that has attachments like a tray for holding tools and then there’s a plastic stackable step stool. The hook over the wheel step has no legs, but you are limited to working on either side of the truck by the wheel. The metal 2 step stool is kind of big & heavy making it difficult to move around. The plastic step stool is light and pretty easy to move around. It comes in different sizes to fit your specific needs.
Do your mechanics work on 4x4 trucks?
Do you have different size trucks come into your service bays, like half-ton, 1-ton. 4x4’s? Are there different size employees servicing these trucks? You might want to consider which of the above designs works best for your shop. But before you purchase a safe step stool for your auto repair shop, ask yourself what’s important to you. Do you want a lightweight easy to move step stool? Are there specific problems with the step stool you are currently using? Is a warranty important? When you’ve answered these questions it will make your step stool decision much easier.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find bathroom step stools, kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
When your youngster has to get a panoramic x-ray at their children’s dentist office, it can be difficult for the dentist to get the child’s mouth at the right height for the x-ray machine without a safe step stool for the child to stand on. Most of the panoramic x-ray machines are designed for adults (think tall). The task of elevating a young child to the correct height while having the kid remain calm & still during a panoramic x-ray of their mouth is no easy task. So what should a pediatric dentist look for in a children’s step stool?
In order for the children’s dentist to buy the best step stool for the job in their office, here’s what they need to look for: 1)Look for a large standing surface area so the child can feel comfortable for extended periods of time standing in one position. The large area allows the child to move their feet if they get fidgety. 2) Make sure the base of the children’s step stool is significantly larger than the top of the step stool. This one little detail adds a lot of stability to the child’s step stool. 3) Look for a load rating on any step stool you plan to use in a business. A 500 pound rating for any step stool seems to be what the military and large corporations require and so should you. 4) Legs are bad. If your step stool has legs, they will eventually either bend, break or the rubber pads on the end will wear out, not good because the step stool will wobble or slide.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for more than 11 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find or design a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
Little people have special needs in our big world. Being able to use a safe step stool that works at home or work can be a big problem because they usually need help up to a counter. If you drive a truck or some type of Sport Utility Vehicle, your little friends will definitely need a step stool to get in your vehicle.
Some step stools fold to store easily and some step stools are very light-weight (and small). So which step stool is right for little people?
Let’s look at the differences, the folding step stools do as the name implies, they fold up to store easily. The folding step stool usually has 2 or more steps, and when it’s open to stand on, takes up quite a bit of room or floor space. So the folding step stool wouldn’t make a good choice where space is tight. If you have to reach over or turn around a lot in one place this type of step stool just isn’t going to work very well.
Safe step stools that look like large platforms, think Coke crate or milk crate, perform much better where space is limited. This type of step stool can be very useful if the little person is going to be doing a lot of repetitious chores like standing at a cash register in a store or chopping vegetables on a home countertop. This type of step stool can also make the little person’s kitchen much friendlier to use. The drawback is that this platform type step stool has to be the correct height to be useful. Otherwise you’d be better of with a folding step stool that has 2 or more steps.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for over 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find bathroom step stools, kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
People that weigh 300 plus pounds have a hard time when trying to use a step stool for exercises. The step stool must be rated at 500 pounds for the bariatric exercises. There are step stools that are called bariatric step stools such as wooden steps, but if you look at the step stool you will NOT find a load rating on them. Does it make sense to go to your physical therapy class to exercise only to get hurt from a step stool that couldn’t hold your weight while working out?
The bariatric population of the United States is growing at a rapid pace and rehab facilities and physical therapists are the busiest they have ever been. Rehabilitation facilities aren’t using the correct step stools for their bariatric patients partly because the therapists are not aware of how dangerous the step stools can be if the step stool is over loaded. The patients should alert their physician or rehab technician if they feel unsafe on any step stool used for rehab.
Some hospitals and rehab facilities aren’t aware of the concerns of bariatric patient’s special needs when it comes to finding quality products for bariatric uses. You still see the little chrome step stool in hospitals because they have always used them not because the step stools work. Why? Because the little chrome step stools are cheaper than the 500 pound load rated step stools that bariatric patients need.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
Have you ever been in a library and seen a child standing on one of the round step stools trying to reach a top shelf and the step stool that they were standing on tips over? One of the reasons this happens is the shape of the library step. The other is because the library step stool has wheels.
Round is not the best shape for any step stool. It just isn’t stable. A square or rectangle step stool is much more stable than a round step. The other problem, wheels, is asking for an accident to happen. Wheels are great for dollies, carts and anything you want to move. The purpose of a library step stool stool is to help kids reach the higher shelves. It should be stable and allow the child to reach up and over. If the step stool has wheels and the child doesn’t weigh enough, the step stool will roll with the kid on it. Not good.
Libraries should have a step stool with a wide base and a large standing surface. Enough of a surface to allow for some lateral movement. Sometimes a library will have an event with a children’s display in a case that is elevated. The younger children will have to use a step stool to view the contents of the display. If your child goes to the library make sure they have a safe step stool for her to use.
Some libraries use a folding step stool. Why? They are usually the cheapest to purchase and they fold up for storage, taking up very little space. You can find these folding step stools in some hardware stores like Lowes or in department stores like Target. But be warned of these folding step stools!! The load capacity on these step stools is usually between 150-225 pounds. If you stand on the second step of the folding step stool and reach over, you may find yourself on the floor. These step stools are not very safe.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
Let’s look at how to buy a kids step stool. It doesn’t matter if the kids step stool is a wooden step stool or a plastic step stool. You really are looking for a safe, easy to use step stool that a child can easily move.
What you should look for is ease of use and stability. Some children's step stools fold to make storage of the step stool convenient for you. Others are very lightweight and only hold a child weighing less than 100 pounds. And then there are others that allow for storage. If you’re looking for a child’s step stool the load rating may not be an issue. But if you’re buying a step stool for anyone that weighs over 150 pounds, be sure the step stool you’re buying has a load rating printed on the step stool itself.
Folding children’s step stools are convenient for home use because they take up very little space when folded and store easily. In most homes space is a problem so the folding step stool makes good sense because it can easily be stored in a closet. But folding step stools can be dangerous if they are not used properly. Read the warning label on any folding step stool about the maximum allowable reach.
Next, make sure your kid’s step stool doesn’t slide on the floor too easily. Some of the step stools are made from plastic or wood that will slide on a smooth floor. Check the bottom of your step stool for non-slip pads. To make sure your step stool has rubber pads good enough to keep them from sliding on a smooth floor, feel the pads. If the pads feel like soft rubber, it’s a good non-slip pad. If the non-slip pad feels hard, don’t buy it. Another test to make sure your children’s step stool won’t slide is to simply put the step on a slick linoleum floor and push the step stool with your foot.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for over 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens and bariatric rehab. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a step stool for yourself, go to www.Shure-Step.com
Overweight people taking physical therapy have a special need when using a step stool. The step stool has to be rated at 500 pounds for bariatric needs. There are many step stools that are being used as bariatric step stools such as wooden steps, but if you inspect the step stool closely you will NOT find any kind of load rating on them. It doesn’t make sense to go to the trouble of going to your physical therapy class to improve your health only to get injured from an inferior step stool that couldn’t hold your weight when exercising.
The bariatric segment of the US population is increasing and rehabilitation facilities are busier now more than ever. It doesn’t seem right that the rehab facilities aren’t using the best possible step stools for their patients.
Doctor’s offices and hospitals have not taken enough action concerning bariatric patient’s needs either. You can still find the little chrome step stool that hospitals have used for years in hospitals & doctors everywhere. Why? Because they are not paying attention to special needs of needs of their bariatric patients.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
In 1995 David set out to get a patent on his idea and the original "L" shaped Shure-Step® was born.In 1996 the Shure-Step® won the Top 20 Tools Award.This was a big boost for David and his product. Because of his involvement in the community and the rapid sales increase David was nominated for and won the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Greater Houston Partnership.
Fast lubes have several choices when it comes to purchasing a safe step stool for their shops. Let’s look at a couple of the step stools to see which will work best for your fast lube shop. It doesn’t matter if your fast lube is a Jiffy Lube, Kwik Kar Lube or a Valvoline Instant Oil Change facility, the problem is the same, “How can you get the safest step stool for your shop?”
Would you like legs with that?
Look at the step stool that you have now, does it have legs? If it does you are looking at the weakest part of your fast lube step stool. The most popular step stool for fast lubes is an aluminum step stool with round rubber pads on the bottom of the legs. I’ve seen one of these step stools when the welds crack. It pretty much renders the step stool useless and the owner wasn’t happy because the aluminum step stool was less than one year old.
Will your technicians be able to service 4x4 trucks?
Do you ever have different size trucks come into your service bays? Do you have different employees servicing these trucks? There is one step stool built for fast lubes that addresses both of these problems. It’s called the Shure-Step® step stool. If a 4x4 truck shows up at your fast lube and your shortest employee is servicing it, no problem…just stack 2 Shure-Steps® up and your working height just increased from 10 inches high to 16 inches high. Pretty cool, huh?
Safety First
Before you purchase a safe step stool for your fast lube, ask yourself what’s important. Do you want a lightweight easy to move step stool? Do you want a safe step stool that will last? Is having a warranty important? Do you want your safe step stool to have a load rating? These are qualities you will have to decide for yourself, but be sure to ask questions when purchasing your safe step stool for your fast lube.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find bathroom step stools, kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
In order to make sure that the step stool for your kids is safe to use, first you must consider what your child will be using the step stool for. Since it is getting close to summer a lot of kids will be drinking out of a water fountain. Most water fountains in public places are installed for an adult to use, so they are too high for a child reach safely. You don’t want your child standing on a step stool that could tip over while they’re getting a drink from a water fountain, do you? Kids don’t think about safety when they want a drink of water; they just want to quench their thirst. So make sure that the step stool is very, very sturdy, because when kids get near a water fountain they horse around and play, a lot!
Safe Step Stool for Outside Water Fountains
Also consider if the step stool for kids to drink from a water fountain is going to be outside, if it is then get a kids step stool that will stand up to the weather and last. Metal step stools tend to rust and become unsafe after being in the rain & sun for more than a year. Wooden step stools simply fall apart after being in the weather for any length of time. Plastic is good as long as the children’s step stool is rated for enough weight to handle several kids at one time. Remember, kids horse around a lot and this isn’t the time to cheap out on the equipment. Kids don’t know if the step stool is safe or not, so you’ll have to pick a step stool for them.
Legs Are Unsafe for Step Stools
Remember, legs are unsafe for an outdoor step stool. If the ground gets soft, like after a rain, one or more of the legs will sink into the ground making your child’s step stool unstable and un-level.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find bathroom step stools, kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
Folding step stools are popular for use as a kitchen step stool because they store very easily. The folding step stool makes sense to use in your kitchen because the number one problem inside homes today is storage space. The problem with folding step stools is that they usually don’t hold very much weight and they tend to slide easily on slick floors. It’s as if the folding step stools are designed as a children’s step stool not for an adult to use in a kitchen.
What makes a folding step stool safe?
The very first thing to look for on any step stool, whether it is a folding step stool or not, is a load rating. The industry standard for an adult step stool load rating is 500 pounds. Big companies will not allow their employees to use a step stool without the 500 pound load rating because they are trying to reduce injuries and promote a safe work place. You should consider this when shopping for a safe step stool to use in your home. The next thing you want to look for is non-slip pads on the legs or the bottom of the folding step stool. Make sure that the rubber non-slip pads are large enough to keep the step stool from sliding. If the step stool has legs make sure the rubber pads won’t get holes worn in them from the legs. Some step stool manufacturers only put a thin rubber pad that won’t do anything to keep the step stool from sliding on a slick floor so make sure the pads are thick.
Before you buy a folding step stool for your kitchen do this one thing to make sure it is a safe step stool. Take it out of it’s box or package, place it on the floor of the store (preferably a smooth concrete floor or linoleum) and with one foot on the step stool and one foot on the floor, push the step stool on the top corner. If the step stool slides easily in the store, the step stool will slide on your kitchen floor. This should be a clear signal to NOT buy this kitchen step stool.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find bathroom step stools, kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
When you see a step stool sitting in front of a bus do you wonder if it’s a safe step stool? Let’s take a look at the step stools buses use and why. Some of the step stools the buses are using are metal step stools. These step stools are made of square metal tubes welded to a metal frame with legs that have rubber pads on the bottom. At first glance these step stools look sturdy, but upon closer inspection you may find that these bus step stools are not as safe as they look.
For a step stool to be safe, legs are not recommended. Why, Bus drivers have repeatedly told me horror stories as they watched visually impaired seniors who couldn’t clearly see the top of the bus step stool and put their foot under the bus step stool instead of on top. They looked somewhat confused as they tried to lift their foot and the bus step stool moving with their foot.
Also, if a bus step stool has legs, the legs are the weakest point of the step stool because eventually the legs will either bend making the step stool unstable or the welds that hold the step stool together will crack, allowing the step stool to wobble.
Look at the bus step stool. Ask yourself “Will this bus step stool hold a very, very large person?” If the step stool is a wooden step stool made for a child, maybe not. Look for a load rating on the step stool. If it doesn’t have one how do you know how much weight the step stool will carry? You Don’t!! So be careful.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
Have you ever been at the library and tried to find a safe step stool to reach a book on the top shelf? You’re not alone! Most library step stools aren’t very safe to reach high shelves because the step stools used are too small or aren’t rated for enough weight. Some of these include the round step stool with spring-loaded wheels on it in used in many libraries. Other libraries use a small ladder instead of a step stool for you reach high shelves. There are many step stool out in the market today. But do you know which among those works for you in the library safely? They have there promises of quality but you cannot tell unless you see it for yourself. The Shurestep’s library step stool could be the answer to your problem.
Look for These Safe Step Stool Features
Before you step on your next library step stool, look for these features:
Step stool load rating should be a minimum of 500 pounds
Step stool base should be larger than top surface to allow for reaching
No wheels or folding step stools, too dangerous
So the next time you reach for a book on the top shelf at a library, be sure to look for a safe sturdy step stool using the guides above and you’ll be happy you did!!
The Safe Step Stool Guy, David C. DuPont has been helping people find solutions to their step stool problems for 13 years. He can help you solve your step stool problems too. To contact him go to www.Shure-Step.com
Do you know a senior citizen that’s having trouble getting into a bus or SUV? Finding a safe step stool for your aging adult or physically challenged loved one can be difficult. Many of us have parents, grandparents or aunts & uncles that are either aging or physically challenged and have problems getting into a bus or SUV. Possibly, they have just had surgery, making it almost impossible for them to lift their leg more than 5 or 6 inches off the ground. This really poses a serious risk of injury when you try to take them out to grab a meal or go to a doctor’s appointment. Getting your loved one into your vehicle or doing anything that requires transporting them can be a real hassle.
Independent retirement homes and other adult communities have the exact same problem and they have tried to solve the problem by building their own wooden step stools out of plywood. Other communities have tried to use old Coca-Cola bottle crates as wooden step stools to help their residents overcome this problem. Some have even resorted to using a heavy block of wood as a wooden step stool so their senior passengers could get up to that first step on the bus they were traveling on. Directors for adult living facilities as well as the directors of nursing for these facilities are faced with finding a safe step stool for their seniors that is light, durable and easy to see. Finding a safe step stool to solve this national problem shouldn’t have to be this hard! Hasn’t anyone come up with a 6 inch step stool for seniors to solve this problem?
Look no more!! There is one safe step stool designed with the senior citizen specifically in mind. This step stool is called the Senior Step stool and it’s made by a company called Shure-Step®. You can find the Senior Step stool at Shure-Step.com. This safe step stool is 6 inches high, it has a large top surface area, it has a rough sandpaper pad on the top so your seniors’ feet will not slide or slip while stepping on it and the color is bright yellow so it’s easy to see. If you’re need includes using a safe step stool in very cold climates where there is ice on the ground, the Shure-Step® company offers ice cleats for its step stools.
The Senior Citizen population in the US is growing quickly. This segment of our population has special needs regarding mobility. In order for this segment of our population to be mobile they require the assistance of a safe step stool. Most step stools are not user friendly for physically challenged older adults, but the Senior Step is. In fact this safe step stool was designed with information from 3 different directors of adult living communities and one director of nursing. If your looking for a safe step stool to help an older adult get into a bus or SUV, be sure to go to www.Shure-Step.com.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com.
Folding step stools are very handy to have around your home because they take up so little space when storing them. But easy storage is about the only thing that folding step stools are good for. Why? These step stools tend be very dangerous when standing on them and reaching to lift an object. Bottom line is that the folding step stools are not very stable or sturdy. Especially the step stools sold at hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowes or department stores like Target.
These inexpensive folding step stools are made cheaply and can’t hold very much weight. Next time you see one of these step stools, do yourself a favor and look for the load rating. Some are rated for 225 pounds or less. That’s just not enough to hold a big person carrying an object and leaning over to the side of the folding step stool. Not to mention that the folding step stool has moving parts that can and will wear over time lowering the load rating every time you use it. So here are a couple of things to look for before buying a folding step stool. Load rating: 500 pounds minimum! That is if you don’t want your step stool to collapse or tip over when you’re on it.
Design: Does your folding step stool have a larger base than the top? This is easy to do, just look at the picture on the outside of the box or ask if you can open the box and take the shurestep's safe stool out.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems and designing safe step stools for 9 years. He has helped people and businesses solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, folding step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com
If you’re looking for a safe step stool to use in your kitchen then you’ve probably seen many different models to choose from. Some are wooden step stools, some are plastic step stools, some are metal step stools and others are folding step stools which may be a combination of metal with plastic rungs.. Which one is best for a kitchen step stool? That depends on which features are most important to you. So you may want to ask yourself, “What am I trying to accomplish in the kitchen.” This simple question and a little investigation into the features of each step stool will help you choose the kitchen step stool that works best for you.
Wooden Step Stools
Are wooden step stools the best choice for a kitchen step? Let’ see, wooden step stools can come painted in different themes or characters, you can get them made as children step stools with Mickey Mouse or your childs favorite cartoon character painted on them. The childrens step stools are smaller and lighter so your child can drag them around easily. Kids step stools are usually made to handle a maximum load of about 150 pounds, so we’re talking about young children. The wooden step stools made for children are not a safe step stool for your kitchen! Check the load rating!!! If the step stool looks like it was made for a child, it probably shouldn’t b used in your kitchen.
Folding Step Stools
The most popular steps for kitchen use are the folding step stools. Why? For 2 main reasons: First they are the cheapest to purchase and they fold up to store, taking up very little space. You can find the folding step stools in most hardware stores like Lowes or Home Depot and in department stores like Target and Wal-Mart. But buyers beware of these folding step stools!! The load rating on these steps is very low, typically between 150-225 pounds. If you stand on the second rung of the folding step stool and lean over, you may find yourself on the floor. These step stools are not very stable or sturdy.
Plastic Step Stools
Most plastic step stools are single piece construction, but I’ve seen 1 or 2 that do collapse for storage purposes. The most popular of the plastic step stools is the Rubbermaid brand. The reason why is they are easy to find at your local hardware or department store and they are cheaply priced. Be absolutely sure to check out the load rating on these Rubbermaid step stools before you get it home to find out it is too flimsy for your needs.
Metal Step stools
Metal step stools come in various shapes and sizes for different industries, but they all have one glaring problem, the rubber pads used on the bottom the legs will wear through, making it far too easy for this step stool to slide out from under you. The second problem with metal step stools is the welds that hold the legs to the step are prone to break or at best, crack. Making this step stool unstable, and a huge liability waiting to happen If you’re big concern is stability and load rating you may want to look at the Shure-Step® step stools. They are superior to folding and wooden step stools because they hold an enormous amount of weight and will not tip over or slide out from under you. These steps are rated at 500 lbs so they can handle a person carrying a heavy load.
David C. DuPont has been finding solutions to step stool problems for 9 years. He has helped people solve their problems by helping them find kitchen step stools, wooden step stools, kids step stools, plastic step stools and step stools for senior citizens. To see his step stools or to contact him to find a stepstool for you, go to www.Shure-Step.com.
In 1995 David set out to get a patent on his idea and the original "L" shaped Shure-Step® was born.In 1996 the Shure-Step® won the Top 20 Tools Award.This was a big boost for David and his product. Because of his involvement in the community and the rapid sales increase David was nominated for and won the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Greater Houston Partnership.
