Folks THis summer I am going to have to tackle a whole bunch of jobs on the front exterior of my house: painting, pointing, gutter repair and so on. I am wondering what's the best way of safely working on the higher parts of the house. Seems to me the options are:
- continually going up and down a long ladder (I'm not keen);
- get a scaffold put up;
- hire a scissor lift;
- pay someone else to do it, but this is all work I can do myself.
Any suggestions?
Has anyone here hired a scissor lift? Will HSS etc even hire them to Joe Public?
Not sure about UK but here (Eastern Canada) we would rent a scaffold, probably two level, from local tool rental outfit such as Complete Rent-Alls etc. This is where owning a pick up or small trailer comes in handy. Must be braced and best to get a couple of good planks or platforms that 'hook' onto the scaffolding and help brace it.
Aluminium access tower. Hire one from HSS or many other hire shops or builders merchants. Or consider buying one - you can probably recover most of your outlay by selling it on.
Strangely enough, I was just about to put my SGB Boss access tower up for sale.
Think about access space around the building, any overhead lines, effects on building security and suitability of the surrounding ground for footings.
if you go up there yourself I suggest you have some kind of safety harness incase of a fall. Once you are working it is always tempting to lean that little bit further and take risks.
It's certainly not easy re-pointing off a ladder. If you're spreading the job over the summer, I'd shop around for a good deal on scaffolding. £250 maybe? Beats the hell out of towers, especially the lightweight ones.
Don't use a safety harness unless it is fastened to a suitable secure point. The tower isn't suitable to use unless it is specifically designed to take a harness.
A near neighbour of mine has apparently been the victim of a scam. Some itinerants called, and told him that he had to let them trim several large trees because the chap next door had complained, which was completely untrue.
To say the result was butchery would be an understatement. They didn't remove any material, and charged him £400 for the job.
He has since clearly decided that his only option is to have the trees completely removed, and the whole garden done. This team appear to be working weekends only, and seem to have done the job OK, but more by good luck than good management.
They had a reasonably large conifer to bring down, without room to drop it in one. I saw no goggles, ear defenders or safety clothing in evidence whilst using a chain saw. An extended sectional ladder rested against the tree, but wasn't secured to it. There was some form of personal safety loop (not a proper harness), but it was only clipped to the ladder, the top rung of which rested insecurely against the trunk. The chain saw was deployed at about head height, but having no goggles the operator had to look away from the cut. Meanwhile the second man had to leave his position footing the ladder to heave on the rope hoping to persuade the section to fall the right way.
I hired an aluminium scaffold tower from HSS last year. I'm nervous up ladders but felt quite comfortable working at the top of the tower - it seemed to be very stable and strong. The type I hired would cost about £1500 to buy, buy might be worth considering if you've got a lot of jobs to do.
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