Scaffolding

[Flyfisher]

Does anyone know about scaffolding and how much it costs? Is it priced by height and length? Do you pay a fixed cost for erection and dismantling and then rent it by the week? I'm trying to get a feel for whether it's worth using specialists or buying a few scaffolding towers. I've looked on the web and found plenty of scaffolding companies, but no information about actual costs.

I'd prefer to use specialists, due to safety considerations, but as I'm contemplating doing a lot of work myself then I expect I'll take quite a long time and am concerned about the cost of renting on a weekly basis.

Just trying to consider all the options really.

 

[skier-hughes]

We have a guy who stores his scaffolding in a barn on the farm.

He charges by the area, by the lift for a month, then it's a hire fee after that. Some scaffolders put it up, charge you by the month all the time you ask for it to stay, then use you as cheap storage after you ask for it to come down, by coming to fetch it when they need it next!!

I can go an measure a std area for him if you like as we have one lot just gone up and another waiting to come down.

I've no idea what his standard charge is, as we get a special price, plus ours goes up round across up round across.......

I could text him and find out, give you an idea of what to expect.

Graham

 

[biffvernon]

Many of the world's largest construction projects rely on bamboo scaffolding.

 

[jess marley]

Did anyone see the picture in'Salt', the follow up to 'Cod' of a bamboo pipeline to carry brine? fantastic!
Sorry-Flyfisher, off topic.
We need scaff too, tho' Charlie reckons he can work from a tower. I don't.

 

[Flyfisher]

Graham, that would be very helpful. I'm only trying to get a feel for the costs involved.

As for bamboo scaffolding, I first saw this in Singapore many years ago. It's quite an incongruous site to see a totally modern building with bamboo scaffolding lashed together with ropes, although it wasn't as impressive as Biff's photo (no planks for walking along I notice :shock: ).

Still, I suspect they have a slightly different approach to health and safety out there - it was also pointed out to me that the stacked-up containers in one corner of the site was where the workers were living for the duration of the project. I'd never seen containers with windows before.

 

[middi]

They have modernised now, they use large nylon tie straps.

 

[Pford75]

Depends on how long the job that requires scaffold is expected to take.

When we had some repairs to our roof, we just hired it in from a specialist as it was only needed for about a week and the heights involved were fairly scary (they also scaffolded around the stacks)

However, with the ongoing maintenance to gutters, painting of windows, soffit repairs etc, we decided to purchase our own tower. Not really on a cost basis (although will pay back fairly quickly), but more a convenience factor.

The make we have (and is a well recognised make) is Boss. Towers typically come in single or double width and then height measurement - eg. single tower 6M, or double tower 8.4M etc. It's important to check the working height (this will be lower than the tower height as the platform is obviously lower, to allow for side rails etc.

I would certainly recommend aluminium rather than steel as it's much lighter and easier to assemble. If you're not used to these things (like me), it pays to have an internal ladder (rather than one outside the tower) with trap-doors in the platforms.

Oh and finally.....everyone selling scaffold is prepared to haggle....whatever they say

 

[Flyfisher]

Thanks for that. Can you remember the cost of your scaffolding for the week?

I've thought about a tower, but 8.4m is pretty high :shock: How stable are they at that height? Do you have to brace them to the ground or tie them to the building?

I'm generally OK with heights as long as whatever I'm standing on doesn't actually move!!

 

[Lime]

Thanks for that. Can you remember the cost of your scaffolding for the week?

I've thought about a tower, but 8.4m is pretty high :shock: How stable are they at that height? Do you have to brace them to the ground or tie them to the building?

I'm generally OK with heights as long as whatever I'm standing on doesn't actually move!!

The biggest problem for most DIYers is the height.
I remember many years ago rewiring a church hall and I had a huge tower on wheels with a platform of 6x18ft about 25ft+ high to deal with all the lights and wiring within the ceiling.
I had so much work that I asked a friend to give me a hand.
I clambered up to the top with him following and walked to the edge pointing out what needed to be done.
I turned around to find him flat out on the boards terrified.
(He wasn't much help to me.)

Most towers do move slightly but you need to gain confidence using them at a lower height first.
Any extra stability gained by fixing/strapping to the surrounding building is an advantage but sometimes you just have to rely on firm footings.
Stable and level footings are a must.
Be prepared to spend more time getting the tower level and stable than putting the rest of it up.

 

[Pford75]

Our scaffold for the week was just over £400 - apparently the bulk of the cost is in putting up and taking down...not really how long you have it for.

Our tower includes two bracing arms at each corner, and feels pretty stable. I would add, that if you have one which is considerably taller than you need, this allows you to have nice high side rails (which adds to the feeling of safety.

Also, our tower has proper flooring panels, not scaffold boards, so it feels solid under foot and doesn't flex.

On the negative side, you can only work small sections at a time, so painting guttering or similar requires you to move the tower many times.

 

[Flyfisher]

I suspect I'll need full scaffolding, at least at first. All the guttering needs to be replaced for a start and the runs are quite long so a tower might be more work than the work on the house itself.

It's encouraging to hear that the length of time is not the main price factor. I guess the next step is to get some real quotes from some local firms.

Thanks again.

 

[Gervase]

I've got a six-metre tower which is useful - particularly when properly guyed using rope and angle-iron pegs - but I'd far rather work off proper scaffolding.
Remember, though, that any scaffolding may have to be a matter of compromise. If you envisage doing any structural work involving the movement of large amounts of weight (which can including re-roofing), you'll need a stronger scaffold, which should be attached to the building. if you use want to do guttering and pipework and to render or paint the exterior, you'll need a lighter scaffold that 'stands off' the builiding. There are few things more annoying than having to go round an entirre building touching up dozens of round patches where scaffold poles butted against the wall, and rendering with such a rig would be impossible.