A 40 ft extension ladder rents for roughly $45 to $80 a day and $130 to $240 a week from a tool counter, and the number on the label is not the height you work at. The overlap between the two sections and the angle you set the base at take several feet off, so a forty footer puts you nearer 33 to 35 feet up.
The rated length is not the working height
An extension ladder is two sections that must overlap, and the overlap grows with length: on a forty footer allow around three feet of it. Set the base out at the safe angle and you lose a little more. Plan on a working height in the low thirties, and on the top rungs being off limits, which is where jobs come up short.
Fiberglass, aluminium and the duty rating
Yards stock fiberglass for anything near live conductors and aluminium where weight matters more. Both arrive rated Type IA at 300 pounds or Type IAA at 375, and that rating covers you plus tools plus whatever is going up on your shoulder. A forty foot fiberglass ladder is heavy enough that two people set it, every single time.
Getting it to site is the awkward part
Collapsed, a forty foot extension ladder is still around twenty two feet long, so it does not go in a pickup bed and it does not sit on a short roof rack. Take the yard delivery, which is usually cheap for a ladder riding on a flatbed already heading your way, or borrow proper racking and tie it front and back.
Cheaper answers to the same problem
If the work at the top lasts more than an hour, the ladder is the expensive option in time and in risk. The same counter hires push around vertical lifts and towable booms that reach the same height with a platform to stand on and a rail to lean against. Price a day of each before assuming the ladder wins.
Questions people ask about 40 ft ladder rental
How much does a 40 ft ladder weigh?
A fiberglass forty footer runs roughly 90 to 110 pounds, an aluminium one closer to 70 to 85. That is a two person carry and a two person raise. Most branches will say so at the counter rather than let one customer walk out with it alone.
Do I need a spotter to put one up?
No permit is involved, but somebody should be footing or tying the base while a ladder this long is raised and while it is climbed. It also has to extend three feet past the landing if you are stepping off at the top, which eats into the reach again.
Can I hire a 40 ft ladder for one day?
Yes, and a day is the usual minimum at a tool counter. Watch the clock rule rather than the calendar. Many branches bill a day as twenty four hours from collection, so an early pickup and a next morning return is one day rather than two.