I liked the nifty idea for the temporary scaffolding that was shown in the last issue of Fine Homebuilding. That has me thinking…does anybody else have any better ideas? I know that with you folks crawling up and down all day that someone has come up with some cool ideas for scaffolding. Thanks!
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A couple of antique rocking chairs and an ironing board will work in a pinch.
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
I've always wanted one of those James Bond jet packs.
Jango Fetts was cooler.
You never know when you might need a H.E. rocket!!!Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
Almost any safe way to work in the air. A qualified statement for sure. Any work done off the ground has varying degrees of danger. A-frames, ladders, and horses with walking boards. Ladder jacks, wall racks, pump jacks and pipe scaffold. All the normal methods of high work, still requiring common sense. Those of us that have put together unusual staging have balanced our safety with the task at hand.
I have done many non textbook things to work above the ground. Some of the things I'll think about is the sturdiness of the system but also the ground below in case the system fails. Pipe scaffold thought of by many as a very safe set up can quickly tumble if not provided with a stable base or tie offs when getting a ways up there. Simple things like the condition of your planks and how much weight they'll hold. Common sense and a lot of experience go along way to contributing to the safety of high work. Throw in osha requirements and you often have to rethink your plan. Perhaps the best thing I was taught early on that has kept me walking around intact, never back up. Never..........not on the ground, not in the air.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Hi Calvin
I know what you mean first hand.
Years ago, I needed to climb up to the roof of a house under construction to do some work.
I asked the contractor if the scaffolding was secure.
He said "Like a rock!"
It didn't look that way to me, but I thought I'd try it anyway.
When I got to the top (about 25ft) and went to climb on the roof, it started to slide out and away.
I barely made it off intact.
I learned a hard lesson fast: NEVER TRUST SOMEONE ELSE WHEN YOUR LIFE IS AT RISK, CHECK IT YOURSELF!
As a small aside, I understand the scaffold collapsed the next day injuring one of his workers, it might have been me!
Be careful and overbuild is my system now.
Jeff
The one thing that I didn't like about the design was the rungs were made out of 1x material. I am going to build a set of them but I am going to add an aluminum angle to the tops of the rungs and the inside of the legs. I also like an aluminum extendable walkboard for strength, traction, and convenience. I would also splay the bottom of the legs and add a set of braces to keep the legs from spreading or folding.
i have aset of 3' ladders 4' wide with steps on both sides that I use as sawhorses and A- frames and ladders these are extremely useful and i hardly go a day without using them.
I also have a folding aluminum ladder that can be extension ladder and an A-Frame, I got this at Sam's it is a knockoff of the little giant ladder and it is very well engineered.My extendable walkboard is a tight fit between the legs and i have used this to make a very solid platform.
ANDYSZ2
I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
I liked the fact you can fold it up and take it away. I'm going to adapt it for a style I like. Also mine are really only good for singe story buildings.
For many years I've built single story staging like shown except on the building side of the platform I eliminate the legs and attach it to the wall with steel bands like you might hang stringers because I have never encountered ground conditions that make 4 legs feel solid.
My outboard end has cross bands that can be used to climb. So there are no multiple height choices that Mike has by having end legs.
I also make sure the planks are screwed down. Someone is bound to lean a ladder on them.
I have never encountered ground conditions that make 4 legs feel solid.
Jim Blodgett introduced me to orchard ladders, which are three-legged step ladders. Those things are forehead slappers, stable on most any terrain. I bet that those A-frames could be built as tripods just as easily, using say, a bit of 1-in. iron pipe as the upper connector.Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
All ya got to do with the foru leggers is get som scraps of wood and some bricks and prop up the high leg sos it stops a wobblin.
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
If you get up in the air often take a serious look at those tow behind manlifts.. the cost is getting reasonable and with the new tax law you can pay for much of them with your tax savings. They tow behind little pick-ups or even any car with a decent trailer hitch..
It's wonderful to pull up to where you need to start setting up scaffolding and set your manlift up in less time than it takes to get the first level into place.. Then you push a button and skyward you go! Forget something? push the button the other way and down you come, grab it and back airborne you go..
30 to forty feet is no problem..
Sounds good man. Any brand or model you suggest. Sounds like just what I needed to buy before the end of the year.Greg
For temporary, nuthin' like the hood of someone elses truck
;).
Excellence is its own reward!
I did that before and the owner of the hood wasn't happy. Besides, I need a couple more writeoffs real quick.Greg
Or, if you need to get a little higher, the roof of the bosses van!
If there is work to be done, the boss won't be there!Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
hey, you been keepin tabs on me, willis ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
if that was your size nine baffin on my ram last winter you owe me a light !!...kidding aside I like to build a manbox onto the forks of the forkliftand this manbox is legal as long as it meets certain specs and the user inside has a fall arrest system on while in the box along with a carded driver in the seat for any carpentry work that was out of the order of operations. Other than that I try to build everything before its out of reach.For example any beams in a porch I frame into the walls before lifting, temperary steal beam supports aswell.Here in Canada the laws state that any bench or temporary scaffold must be atleast 18inches wide so a 2x10 bench used to strap a beam or drop a ceiling or used to complete bridging is not considered safe.
If you live here in Minnesota I'd recommend someone from where I work to get you numbers and prices.. if you aren't then look in the phone book for equipmant rental and try to find a local dealer. Rental houses will sell your theirs and buy new for themselves but you'll want a dealer to be able to stand behind it and do the annual inspection.. Find out what brands are popular in your town.. There are better brands out there but without a decent dealer should you need one it could become a mistake.. the prices are dependant on how much it may have been used prior to your purchase.
Someplaces like ours apply most of the rent towards reducing the sell price.. while others just figure on what the market will bear..
Thanks. I have to go to the rental yard in the morning anyway.Greg
I'll plug these again. Very clever design. They work great right off the shelf.
Super stable. 3 legs are better than 4. 3 adjustable legs are even better still! 6 ft max height can be limiting, though I do not remember if the ones from the article would get you much higher or not.
http://www.reechcraft.com/bronco/
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Amen Brother! I agree totally with you! three legged orchard ladders are a super nice way to work.. I would ten times rather climb one of those than the four legged variety I started to use mine from my own orchard and felt like i was being a cheapskate rather than buy the much more expensive four legged variety.. after two years of using it in lots of places I wouldn't dare set up it's four legged cousin. I'm a believer..
We have 2 broncos, and we really need to add a couple more. They come in so handy. I used them recently to install a barrel vault and the setup time was so quick! I love those things.
My last crew called me the scaffold king.
I could bang together a scaffold system faster than you could think about......
My favorite and fastest is to simply cut a strip of aluminum coil about 4" wide, bend it in half to make it stronger..break a ladder in half, strap it to the wall top and bottom using screws and shove yer planks in the rungs.
Now thats the simplest and my favorite jimmy rig system other than being able to just throw the planks through tall step ladders if the height is right but..my mostest favorite is using my aluminum pump jacks. Those things so rock. worth every penny specially with the extentions to the poles.
One day I may even buy the guard rail system for it.lol
I remember working on these three story houses in Queens (NY) when I first started out doing "aluminum siding". Sometimes we couldnt get to the top of the gables on the three story gigs so we'd pull up a picnic table and set the poles on those.....We're talkin' 2x4's nailed together and a year old out in the weather all day and night...ugh.
And lets not forget that we're working over concrete driveways with the next house about 10' away.
I always told my guys to look for something to grap onto if they fell or a soft bush to fall into (not that that would help but....)
BAck then I used to tie a heavy rope from one pole to the other about four feet above the plank as my saftey rail.....oiy!
Ladder brackets are cool if you don't have to move em much but thats rare unless its just a window youre puttin' in.
I kinda laughed at that article in FHB about the home made wood collapsable ladder stand to shove yer planks through....All I could think was how much easier it is to just use step ladders like I been doing for over 27 years....Sorry
Why build something else I have to work on and store. No offense.
Of all the things that gets to me..about the saftey of my life isnt all the drugs I injested in my youth.or the daredevil things I did back then but rather how I "never" got seriously hurt in all the height work I've done in NYC and we're talking way up there!
Anyway.sorry to ramble again
Be safe all
andy
PS. Oh yeh....lol.......and when yer 3 stories up there with the ladder propped against your plank to go up and down...the coolest thing is to grab the rails.wrap yer feet around the rails and slide all the way down (wear gloves).
My life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Don't forget to remind him to reconfigure his hand and footholds about 1/2 way down that Extension ladder.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
true......that part can make for some serious blood blisters......hmmmmm.speaking of blood blisters....(don't u know not to get me going yet..lol?)
Doing that 5" knotty pine floor yesterday the friggin porta nailer kept getting jammed(what else is new) so I put my flat bar under the part that you smash with the hammer and smashed the flat bar a billion times with my lump hammer to free it up (successfully) but slammed my thumb once or twice making for a beauty of a blood blister...Bit it to release the blood and pain and had the knotty pine stained with my blood all day. told the customer it was crayon marks...lol
Be bloody well
andyMy life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Andy,
I have a couple of 8ft. fiberglass stepladders that I like to run planks between-------but they have considerable draw backs. My 24 foot picplank won't fit on the upper couple of rungs------so height is pretty limmited. The comparitively narrow base makes them a bit tippy from side to side.
I have actually been planning to booger together a couple or 3 of those A frames cause for me they would be WAY more versatile. the wider base would be much more stable and the larger size would be much easier to set up to straddle the existing landscaping/bushes I am always working over. Using those a frames I believe I can quickly ,safely and cheapley scaffold the lower edge of a small cape in about 2 minutes. ( when you are working at a different house every day or so quick ,safe and cheap scaffolding is of considerable interest.)
Stephen.. i've had mine since '75... and the best size has always been the 8' high ones... we've also got a pair of 12'
the cross pieces wind up about 14" steps.. and depending on the load are either 1x6 ledger or 1x8 ledger ..
the bolt is 3/8 x5 with 3 washers...... this design works best.. a plumb side ( to fit closer to the building ) and a splayed side... the bottom is about 46" wide so they fit in a pickup bed, and the top is about 34" wide so a 20" pic. will fit on the top cross-piece
when they're set up we brace the legs with firring , and usually brace to the building also
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 12/31/2003 5:05:36 PM ET by Mike Smith
here's another view.... these are the original legs.... about half of the cross pieces have been replaced over the years
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
thanks Mike,
I had been thinking about splaying the legs on one side even though it would slightly complicate the fabrication-----I figured it would add stability and slightly "self brace" against the outward thrust of people pushing against it as they climb on or off the roof or work along the lower edge.
I would love to brace TO the house----but that would be largely impractical on these finished houses that were often aluminum sided 30 years ago. I think I will have to settle for a braceand maybe a stake away from the house.
I figure with the "ol screw gun" it can't take much time to booger together some braces.
they're very easy to brace.. a couple of 12' - 16' 2x4's and thyere like the rock of gibralter...
here's a special one we cobbled together for our current deck job... on this one we used the top of the X to support 2 pics in the same plane without having to step over the top...
also.. note the pics left in their snow shed position... ready to go for the next dayMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
On Today's Homeowner they had a segment on building "sheds" and showed a company in CT, called Better Barns.
http://www.betterbarns.com/
Anyway they aren't you "pick up the kit and a hamer from HD" shed. Some othem probably cost more than my home.
Anyway I saw in the background them using some neat scaffolding for working on the roof.
I emailed them and found out that they are something that they made up, but I never got the details.
It looks like they used sections from an articulated ladder. On one end they had a 4-5 ft section of aluminum ladder. This held a ladder jack and AL pank. It was hung from the top plate, but I really could not figure out how.
On the other end they had a similar section with a ladder jack and hung from the top plate. But they also had a second section that kicked out at about 30 degrees at the bottom. That gave them a built in ladder to climb up on the scaffolding.
It looked like a neat system, but probably only practical for something like what they where doing. Just building 1 story sheds.
I build what I call a death scaffold. Before the interior is drywalled and the shell is being completed I use 2x6 about every 6' and shoot them out the shell through the shear panel. I build a path that I can walk completely around the house. The 2x6s are about 16' and have a kicker to secure them near the interior ceiling. A block supports them where they pass through the sheathing. When done the holes are edge nailed around a flat block. I build a rail and a kicker that keeps the ladder from sliding out from under me. This whole setup is probably not OSHA approved but I work by myself. I can bring the portable tablesaw and all my schwag out on the platform. I access with an extension ladder or out a window.
looks like a great system. How 'bout more pictures (from below) (from inside).You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
I can't understand why people keep trying to cobble together what's already been made, and made quit well I might add for many years now. That is, plaster's A-frames. They're made of welded steel tubing, wide and very stable, don't cost much, come in varying heights and stack up very compact.
Don't try and scimp on safety. I bought both pairs that I have (6' and 2' sets) used from stucco contractors really cheap. If you buy them from stucco guys you should get them sandblasted and painted otherwise you'll be scraping and cutting yourself on the dried stucco that's caked on them.
Has anybody used trestle ladders and what did you think about setting up the scaffolding on them?
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
i've got a pair of the big wooden ones... they weigh just as much as my 8' A-frames.. their base isn't broad enough to give good stability..
and the vertical portion isn't wide enough for a double plank or a 20" picMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore