Structural properties of the spin chain and ladder compound Sr14 Cu24 O41 have been studied using high energy x-ray diffraction. Strong incommensurate modulation reflections are observed due to the lattice mismatch of the chain and ladder structure, respectively. While modulation reflections of low orders display only a weak temperature dependence, higher orders dramatically increase in intensity when cooling the sample to 10 K. All observed modulation reflections are indexed within a super space group symmetry and no structural phase transition could be identified between 10 K and room temperature. We argue that these modulation reflections are not caused by a fivefold periodicity of the chain lattice, as claimed by Fukuda, Phys. Rev. B 66, 012104 (2002), but that holes localize in the potential given by the lattice modulation, which in turn gives rise to a further deformation of the lattice.