Scaffolding

[Jimk]

2ft 6 wide? Hmmm...

Defo extra outriggers needed & belt & braces lashing points fitting to the facade & tied in to.

I'd go for a bigger footprint/platform size. 4 X 2'6" seems a bit miserly?

[RJH]

I need to paint the rear/outside of my mid-terrace house. It also needs quite a bit of tidying, pointing etc. As I'm rubbish at heights I was looking at 4m platform height scaffolding.

I could hire this:

for a couple of weeks - ~£200

Or I could buy something like this for not much more:

and have the luxury of time, and sell it on once I've finished.

Or get a proper scaffolder in - that'd likely be the best solution, but more expensive, and probably not that good an idea virus-wise.

Any opinions?

[Andy Burns]

If you're not good at heights, the hire option looks a lot sturdier than the buy option, I've borrowed one of the latter and they're quite flexy.

[R D S]

Same. I've a mate who's all 'Alpha' who was doing a job for me that required a ladder. He roped me into going up it a handful of times. Pride made me do it but my legs were quaking!

I keep looking at those, but i'm put off by the cheap price.

I'm sorely tempted to buy an old van with a cherry picker on, I could fix all sorts then!

[alan_m]

SE Exxex I had 3 stage scaffolding at the front of my terraced house (cabled roof at top of bay windows) for £360 (including VAT). I had it up for a month but the scaffolders didn't want any more for an extra month. If fact when I phoned them up for removal they indicated that it may be 3 weeks before they had a slot to come. (They phoned a day later and then came and removed the scaffolding in less than an hour!) My neighbours had the same company put up scaffolding and they had it up for 7 weeks for the price of the original quote.

I really found that having a wide scaffolding plank platform running the whole length of my property frontage at height a benefit whilst painting. Easy to leave the paint pot etc. on the planks where I was working. I have in my younger days worked off a ladder and constantly climbing and moving it was a complete PITA.

The tower you can hire has wheels for moving, The one you indicate for purchase doesn't so don't overlook how easy it is to move. How heavy is the steel tower and how easy is it to assemble with one man?

[newshound]

Or do like me, look for a second hand "professional" aluminium one on eBay.

Mine is a bit battered but still works. Cheap steel ones are heavier, a bit nasty, and have smaller platforms. I think I paid the same sort of price as for a steel one of the same height.

Remember that you *will* want adjustable feet, and probably wheels.

[John Rumm]

I would be wary of anything that is tall and does not have stabilizing outriggers. They can feel very wafty!

[alan_m]

Even proper scaffolding can feel wobbly without outriggers! A 2 x 4ft footprint with the weight of a man at 15ft doesn't sound too stable to me, especially if leaning out to reach. Plus, positioning a small platform to close to where you are working can actually hamper efficient working.

[Tim+]

When I painted the front of my house I hired a small towable cherrypicker. Utterly brilliant compared to messing about with ladders etc. Obviously unlikely to be applicable to the rear of a terraced house.

Tim

[Michael Chare]

There is this website:

I have just ordered a ladder from them and may get a tower later.

They told me that the platform height is 2m less than the quoted height.

The quoted height, is the height a man could reach to work at!

[newshound]

IIRC that is the normal convention.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yup. I always have full scaffolding put up for painting it myself. Given I'm already saving a fortune over getting a pro in.

And can it easily be moved to everywhere needed? Not that many gardens would allow this.

[Chris Green]

I bought one like that several years ago and have never regretted it, it's still in use. For example I recently had to remove and fix a chimney fan on our house, from a ladder it would have been 'exciting' from the scaffold tower it's a doddle.

[spuorgelgoog]

Ideally it should be tied to an eyelet bolt secured in the wall. Even with outriggers.

Owain

[Michael Chare]

Indeed, that was what the told me!

[items4sale]

I have a narrow alleyway down the side of the house, something like 600 mm wide between house wall and boundary fence.

As I built the access tower, I drilled the house wall to fit 4 separate self expanding eye bolts.

Then four ratchet straps were used to strap the tower to the wall...

Then when the first K bracket was affixed to the wall, a fifth ratchet strap was used to strap the top of the tower so I could then fix the 2nd K bracket to the wall higher up.

Then a 3m pole and two satellite dishes, 5 quattro LNBs and 20 coax cables later, the tower came down.

The 4 eye bolts are still in the house wall several years later.....

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

Of course you get a scaffolder in and they break the patio, so you get the patio fixed and they damage the flowerbed and you need a gardener.... Brian

[alan_m]

And you think that is not going to happen when you erect and move a tower yourself? A scaffolding company will have enough cut down scaffolding boards on the truck to put under the legs of the scaffolding to spread the load where it meets the patio/flower bed.

[charles]

t'was on a Monday morning ......

[spuorgelgoog]

'twas on an Easter Monday morning At double time and a half The builder sucked his teeth And said "you must be 'aving a larf "That'll never fit there "what you need to do is this "Don't ask me to use that rubbish "You're really taking the piss"