Hello. I need to get my hands on some used scaffolding. I live in Central NJ and I need to get up high enough to fix my soffit. Even if I only get 3-4 sets it would be fine. Does anyone know any good places to look besides ebay & craigslist? I’ve been looking so long I thought I’d try posting here to see if anyone had advise.
Thanks,
Jim
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Replies
I often buy used at the rental center. They take it out of service after a certain amount of time.
http://grantlogan.net/
But you all knew that. I detailed it extensively in my blog.
I bought a set from these guys; http://www.scaffoldmart.com/ and have been very happy with it. You could always sell it on Craigslist once you're done.
Prices are reasonable and free shipping too.
No affiliation with them, just a happy customer.
-Norm
Northern Tool also has new, but shipping might be a wallet killer, I second the rental yard, my last price was 140.00 per frame set and 2 braces.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
New book alert; Eckhart Tolle "A new earth"
A must read.
Jim,
Let me fill you in on scaffolding. It seldom wears out, usually it's sold by someone going out of business or the scaffold renting place replacing the older stuff that isn't quite right. When they do their used price is usually what the dealer paid for it in the first place.
My scaffolding was left at a job site by a company being sued out of business. Over a year later the home owner tired of trying to contact them offered it to me if I simply removed it.. When I got it home I realized why it had little value.. the frames were not standard configuration, many of the componants were in poor shape and I spent well over $1,000 getting things safe and workable..
Do not take older scaffolding and assume it's safe and a decent value.. if it were why would a scaffold rental place dispose of it? Do not use lumberyard planks either!
Scaffold planks are not simply 2x12's or something similar.. they are special Gluelams made to a purpose of providing you with a safe walking place.. they need periodic replacement as well.
My rentel place sells what they rent, mine is all near new. Maybe where you are they sell junk, but not here. They don't "dispose of it" ( sell to a customer) if its deemed unsafe to rent out, it gets scrapped for liability reasons, I ASKED.
15.00 for one section for two weeks, half of that rental then gets deducted if you decide to keep it, and the cost is what ever they WANT to charge you, one place quoted me 170.oo, one was 210.00, and I got mine for 140.00, it pays to shop around.
I originally bought 4 sets, then went back and got 4 more, a week or more later, different sales person, so they checked my records and gave me the same price, even tho' steel had gone up. Good customers get good deals.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
New book alert; Eckhart Tolle "A new earth"
A must read.
Edited 5/28/2008 9:57 am ET by Sphere
Sphere,
I didn't say unsafe I said deficent..Scaffold companies could be held liable if they knowingly sold unsafe scaffolding.. The differance is maybe a little mortor got into one of the catches and makes it slow to react. or it has cosmetic issues such as a build up of paint or mortor.
Planks are sold while safe but after some use. Thus it's impossible to know if there is one, two, or how much life is left on them. That itself is subject to all the variances of weather and load conditions etc..
All great information here. Thank you all for your replies! Would anyone see anything wrong with the link below? It is a set that you can get for $117.00 If I spend $600 the shipping is free. Thanks Norm. I'm going to check out some scaffolding places tomorrow as well and get some prices.http://www.scaffoldmart.com/5x5-scaffold-set.htmlorhttp://www.scaffoldmart.com/66x5-scaffold-set.htmlJim
You got a reasonable location to store this stuff? Your wife is gonna get tired of it being in the garage...
Ha! Ha! You'd be right if my house didn't already look like hell. Oh, and I don't have a garage. I'll sell after using them.
I accumulated all mine the same way you did. Rent applied to purchase.To Frenchy: I've never seen laminated beam planks....most are aluminum planks with plywood decks.There are also "all-aluminum" planks but, man oh man, are they rough on the knees...
He's talking about 2x12's for walkboards, subbing LVL for them.
When I was a pumpjack fool up in Pa. I had a sawmill cut me full 2" x 14" x 16' Poplar planks for that.
For my scaff I have now, I use PT 2x10 x 9' with cleats so they don't slide off the pipeframe..the Al. 19'' boards are 100.00 a pop. I like the Al boards w/plywood tops, like you say, easy on the knees.
Round here ( and most places I have worked) masons mostly only use wood planks, some with strapping across the endgrain to keep the splits together. Dunno why that is.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
New book alert; Eckhart Tolle "A new earth"
A must read.
When I worked in the Old Growth Doug Fir mills, we used to cut a lot of scaffold plank....very strict slope of grain requirements, clear, no defects....but it was all for heavy commercial use....heavy as hell...Not good HO DIY stuff....
Many years ago I had the great opportunity of having to drag those monsters around. Heavy heavy.
Was marveling at the things and went to counting the number of lams in a plank. Seems it was somewhere close to 20.
Jim, What do you want to do to your soffit? And how far above ground level is it?
There are lots of ways to get your body up there and in position to do certain tasks. Building simple scaffold with dimensional lumber is one of them. Basically the same design as pipe scaffold, it's made mostly of 2X4s.
I'll be happy to walk you through the process, once I know what you want to do and how high you need to reach. It's easy to build and more than adequate for anything but masonry work.
I've been doing it all on a ladder up until now. Problem is the corners. I can't get to them safely since they stick off the house so much and I can't fit the ladder on a corner unless I get one of those corner standoff things that attach to a ladder. Link below shows what I'm doing. I'm going to use rubber (no metal) for that built in gutter. Disregard what it says on the blog. I built a scaffold for the back, but the sides are another story. I'll probably go with a scaffold since I'm sure I could sell it afterwards. They go fast on Craigslist. I'm curious to see what you are recommending- any pics?Thanks,
Jimhttp://foursquarerestoration.blogspot.com/
No photos but it was standard method for doing two story siding and soffit, for many generations. I'd still use it today, unless I needed scaffold on a regular basis.
For two story work it's basically 2-2X4-16' as uprights for each frame, with 2X6s as cross members to support the planks at the appropriate level for standing, with one near the bottom of the frame. The 2X4s are laid on the flat, then the cross member nailed on square.
Each frame is set up on a level "sleeper", any piece of dimension lumber placed on prepared level ground. Two plumb frames are then tied together with crossed 2X4 braces as well as 2X4 horizontal braces.
A two story scaffold would be braced first on the outside of the bottom to a height of about 6', then the inside of the bottom.
After setting the planks at the 6' level a second set of braces is nailed on, starting just above the horizontal brace. Then the planks can be moved up to the working level and a safety railing nailed to the outside frame.
Suggested distance between frames is 10'-12'. You can use 2X12 for planks but make sure there are no large knots in them. They should also overhang each frame by at least one foot.
You can also build the frames to suit any changes in grade around the house, moving the cross members up or down to keep the planks level.
16d common duplex (double headed) nails are the best for this job. Use plenty of them.
BTW. If I were working on that soffit and roof in your linked photos, I'd build the scaffold frames wide enough to be able to work on the roof off the scaffold. If I were going that high I'd use 2X6's for the uprights instead of 2X4s. Of course it's important to use sound lumber for all the scaffold components. I'd prefer douglas fir.
Built correctly, this is a very sound and safe scaffold for any kind of carpentry or painting. It's not meant for heavy loads of materials.
Edit: If you nail the planks down you can temporarily remove the braces next to the house to allow for access to the siding and windows.
A small crow bar (16"-20") is the best tool for pulling duplex nails and taking the scaffold apart. It offers better leverage so it's safer to use while standing on the scaffold.
Edited 5/28/2008 1:49 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
Building simple scaffold with dimensional lumber is one of them. Basically the same design as pipe scaffold, it's made mostly of 2X4s.
I'll be happy to walk you through the process, once I know what you want to do and how high you need to reach.
I would be very interested in your ideas on building scaffolding to get to the second story for window repairs, gutter work, and trim painting.
Thanks.
Just don't do what I did. I bought scaffolding from 3 or 4 different places. Turns out there are 3 different diameters for the tubing even if you stick w/ Bil-Jax. I ended up w/ all three before I realized the problem. A lot of the mail order places don't specify what diameter they're selling.
Why go to all the effort of buying used scaffolding only to turn around and sell it a few weeks later? The plan to save money versus rental all hinges upon getting enough parts that are compatible and in good repair.Factor in your time buying/selling along with shipping costs and taxes. Wouldn't renting make more sense?
toolman65
I bought mine at the rental yard for $30 a piece, they swap out every two years for liability and sell the used.
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Thanks for the reply toolman. I'll probably buy new and have it shipped. I'll spend about 680.00 dollars for what I need, but it will be delivered to my door and all parts will be compatible. There is also no delivery fee or taxes (I think). I can't rent since I only work on my house whenever I get free time to do so. Kids, work, yada, yada. If I can get used dirt cheap I may go that route. 30.00 each is pretty cheap.