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Have a detached house which needs repainting. Only the front and one side are rendered so helpfully only two sides to paint. The render is is good condition generally so just needs a good prep and painting. Retired now so have the time and confident I can do a good job however I dont like heights so absolutely no chance of me doing it off a ladder. Typical height other than a front gable which I will need to get to the highest point of. Will also tidy up a couple gutter end pieces and brackets and install a security light and camera whilst I am up there.
Question is has anyone used a simple self erected and movable scaffold for this type of job and if so what was their experience? What tips do you have and of course any interesting near death tales always gratefully received...
Paging @WorldClassAccident
This discussion sounds right up your street, Sir
I bought one of these years back: great bit of kit! Absolutely hate going up a ladder now. Key thing is you climb up inside it and get to the platform via a trap door.
Obviously get the outriggers! And when I set it up: I try to pull it over / push it around before I actually climb it.
Only downside is storing it when dismantled: it takes up a cube of space (not outside). Oh - and the plastic handles in the nuts have faded due to uv.
If you don't like heights then I don't think you will enjoy trying to put up a tower scaffold anything above 4m
They have stabilisers or you can fix them to the building but they can still be a bit shaky as they are lightweight aluminium
I'd get a proper steel scaffold with hop ups giving you much better access ie no tubes tight up to the building and all assembled for you
https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/scaffold.htm
Follow the instructions, and you should be fine.
Did the outside of mine with one of those^^^^ easy. To quote the tool hire guy, "blue clips are horizontal, red diagonal, you'd have to be a **** to get it wrong"
However, I do know someone who fell off one😳
Question is has anyone used a simple self erected and movable scaffold for this type of job and if so what was their experience? What tips do you have and of course any interesting near death tales always gratefully received…
I hired one from local builders hire place. Very stable and sturdy, with safety bars all round. Much safer than a ladder and you can paint a 2 metre wide section at a time, then you just climb down, move it along and start again.
Easy to dismantle and move indoors etc. Very cheap to hire by the week.
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Typical height other than a front gable
does that mean the apex is effectively 3 stories high? If you are not good with heights that will still deal high and depending on quality of scaff (and erection) potentially wobbly. How much is the hire for one that size? Compared to paying a proper scaffolding company for a week or Cherry picker for a weekend (Cherry picker may not be great if you are scared too; but it’s how the pros do it round here - otherwise you spend more time on scaffolding than painting.
I don't think all render is suitable for painting, K-rend I think needs cleaning rather than painting. Something to do with breathability maybe...?
There are very different levels of scaffold tower. The cheap ones are probably more scary than a ladder. I've got a good quality one, bought second hand but still reassuringly expensive. Once built its super stable, even the wife will go up it and she hates that sort of thing. As mentioned building it is the risky part. You need the right technique and to not over-reach. Great bit of kit and has paid for itself many times over.
Put yourself on a local PASMA course and hire an alloy tower. I'd not work off one that wasn't built properly.
Thanks for the responses.
Yes thinking of hire not purchase. I will probably have downsized before I need it again.
I fully expect to spend more time checking, double checking and then getting a mate to check than actually painting and am happy with that. My time is plentiful...
Render has been painted before so is suitable.
In terms of Apex height, yes. at its highest point around 3 stories. May need big boy pants for that bit.
Thanks @footflaps @kneeds thats just what I am looking for, to hire not to buy. And yes I suspect you will be able to see the outriggers from space....
@poly been on a cherry picker once, terrifying....
PASMA course is £140 here
https://smithstraining.com/training-courses/pasma-training-towers/
and a weekly hire of an alloy scafffold is about £150 a week from Speedy hire.
@footflaps has very kindly supplied a photo of a poorly and dangerously built alloy tower. This can be used for future reference of how an alloy tower is not supposed to be built 😁
and a weekly hire of an alloy scafffold is about £150 a week from Speedy hire.
I hired two and it was something daft like £25 a week each, had them for months building the workshop. Was from a local place rather than a chain.
Our place needs painting too (all 4 sides) - plus fascias, a couple of windows and may as well put new gutting on at the same time!
Getting the whole place scaffolded properly as there are some bits that a tower just will not be any good for - also don't have to mess around moving the tower.
I did think of a tower when there was not quite so much to do as I hate ladders but it def wasn't £25/week when I looked!
We've got the alloy BPS tower stuff as per @kneed's link earlier - it's OK, more movement in it than I expected but still more than up to the job and a lot better than a ladder.
It was only after I made use of the 'proper' scaffolding we had around our house while the walls were being repointed that I realised how much better proper scaffolding is. Much more confidence-inspiring. So yeah, if I only needed it the once I'd just hire. We use our alloy stuff quite a lot though, so works for us. Useful around the garden and internally too for high hallway.
Feel free to critique my erection 😳
Check your ground you are working off, setting up on non level or soft surfaces is tricky so factor in some wooden plates to build your scaffolding off.
Definitely hire a proper tower, they are very much easier to set up correctly than some of the cheap horrors out there.
It's possible to build a scaff yourself but realistically you are going to want a second pair of hands
Hire company may charge for cleaning so protection from paint or cleaning yourself
Lots of painters I see on our sites use rollers on long extendable handles. I have some that reach 4m so the majority of work can be done off the ground but always put sheets down to catch drips. That just leaves the fine work at the edges so minimal time up the tower
A serious alternative is to use an easy reach ladder stay. This will transform the stability of your ladder and make it a palatable option. It puts you in the correct position to paint or work, makes everything solid and gives somewhere to hang paint and tools. They are quite cheap and I would whole heatedly recommend one to anyone who uses ladders
Depends how bad you are with heights. We got scaffolding in when replacing the soffits - a joiner did it, but I literally couldn't get far up the scaffolding before chickening out, and sent my wife up !
Get a scaffold set up, if your not keen on heights alloy towers will not be fun for you, they still wobble around when up high, plus you have to erect and dismantle it whilst essentially standing on nothing.
A scaffold will be just like standing on solid ground and will make it so much easier and quicker to paint rather than keep moving your paint pot, climbing up and down, moving the tower (spilling your paint in the process...😂) finding an awkward bit of ground the tower won't work on and using a ladder anyway!
Just get a scaffold set up!
Put yourself on a local PASMA course and hire an alloy tower. I’d not work off one that wasn’t built properly.
+1
I've watched a plasterer fall off one. Utterly bonkers as the site manager had a right chip on his shoulder about us TV people coming into his site, had to jump through all sorts of hoops (inc. the PASMA course), checking the BS numbers on our boots, etc, yet his own guys were swinging up the outside of platforms, no guard rails, etc etc.
The course is cheap compared to lost earnings if you fall from even a moderate height. And the problem with towers is you can be a lot higher than moderate height before you realize you should have used the bigger outriggers.
They're not quite idiot proof. You can mess up the construction (e.g. putting braces on the wrong part so they don't actually do anything) and you can mess up the method of putting them up, some are AGR and some are TTT and if you do it right you never have to go on a platform without the guards up first.
clueless, but something I'll have to do in the next few years. How much does getting scaffolding 'set up' cost
4 bed detached with easy access, though may need next doors permission for the alley way.
I presume next door can't be an arse and refuse this sort of thing?
Easy to get a price from these guys...... used them before and it's a good setup:
https://www.wescaffoldanyhouse.com/
plus you have to erect and dismantle it whilst essentially standing on nothing.
Only if you've not done the training. PASMA towers are all TTT or AGR by design, you're never on a platform without a rail.
@redmex scary but they were definitely doing something a bit "non standard" there. No chance of me doing that.
That just leaves the fine work at the edges so minimal time up the tower
Yes, I would say at least 75% of the job is easy and I would be fine off the ground or a low stepladder. Its the remaining 25%.
Just get a scaffold set up!
Preferable I suppose but that would negate any savings.
Question is has anyone used a simple self erected and movable scaffold for this type of job and if so what was their experience? What tips do you have and of course any interesting near death tales always gratefully received…
Yes, did both gable ends of my current place. Front half is on block paving so was a piece of piss to set up, back half is either 3 terraced steps up grass/gravel or a grassy bank @20 degrees. Wasn't hard to stake it down and level it up on either.
The grass recovered quicker from the scaffold than it did from the paint that got spilt on it.
Only took 2 days to do the whole lot. Probably 1.5 days of that was for scaffold assembly disassembly.
With a proper scaffold, cost is in the building and taking down, the hire cost is pretty cheap. So factor in a day for two men for building and take down. So probably £500 labour and £500 for hire and delivery/collection. So not cheap for a week.
You could go with the cherry picker route, but I'd opt for a course again (IPAF), as the last thing you want is tipping yourself out the basket, or wiping out the corner of your house. You'd also need the local hire company to come out to ensure you're hiring the correct lifter. They're also pretty heavy so the ground conditions need to be reviewed too.
IPAF course here is £200 for a 'boom' type lifter
https://smithstraining.com/training-courses/ipaf-3a-3b-scissor-lift-boom-cherry-picker/
I'd get a proper scaffold for that. I'm confident on a ladder and at height but it's just not worth the risk personally speaking.
For DIY stuff, I always ask myself why I am considering the riskier option? And if that reason is 'because its cheaper' then it usually means I should probably just spend the extra.
Find a local guy or ask a local roofer for a recommendation.
I m painting a bungalow so bought a 11 step stepladder, I can access soffits q easily and step across to flat roof on garage. Any higher I d go scaffold all round, it's about a grand so I d batch up a few jobs while up there.
I should paint my house this summer... ladders aren't great as it's big and you're up and down with the paint. I'm using a trailer lift as I want to get it done fast and safe as possible.
I hired a scaffold tower to do some work on the old house. Victorian and needed to get up to the gutter so reasonably high.
Never used one before but pretty easy to follow the instructions. Wobbled about a bit more than proper scaffold.
Oh and I don't like heights but would rather use a tower than a ladder.
Depending on the height you may have to semi dismantle it to move it. Which takes a bit of time. Make sure you have some gloves. Oh and mine came with threaded castors so you could adjust the height in each corner to take account of wonky ground. No need to build it on bits of wood that it could slip off.
Got it from this lot. Seemed to be the best price for me.
https://www.nationaltoolhireshops.co.uk/category/access-tower-hire/
If youre no good with heights as others have said they are still a pretty scary thing to construct/dismantle.
Did the tower scaffolding course and got a nice shiny badge some 20 years ago.
Things may of improved, but the tower we used at work, you had to climb through the hatch and then attach the guide rails, all very good but 30ft off the ground its another story.
You also need someone competent to help pass the parts up as you build it.
Things may of improved, but the tower we used at work, you had to climb through the hatch and then attach the guide rails, all very good but 30ft off the ground its another story.
The AGR type solves that, you build the guards on the platform below then slide them up.
Dunno if it's changed but the way we were taught for TTT towers was to never go higher through the hatch than the guardrail would be. So stand in the hatch and lift the first one and the toe boards into position, then sit up in the hatch to do the 2nd.
When I did it no one else on the course spoke English which made the practical a lot of fun trying to sign everything, PASMA via interpretive dance 😂
@poolman Ensure you anchor the steps to the house with eye bolts and don't go to the top. I have a workmate whose early retirment is a bit painful due to 2 broken vertebrae suffered from a fall off an 8 step ladder in the 90's. Don't mess about with steps.
The only thing I know about scaffolding is you climb up the inside, not the outside. It is apparently to do with if you fall, its more likely you'll fall a short distance onto an internal stage, but off the outside theres nothing till you hit the ground.
Which sounds sensible to me.
I’d be inclined to get someone in to do the whole job.
We live in a 1930s gabled house, which I recon is just shy of 8m at the highest point. As it was only the front of the house and only half rendered I thought that I could tackle it, so hired a scaffold tower my local tool hire place and bought the appropriate paint etc.
The hire place dropped off the scaffold on the Monday morning and were due to collect it Friday that week. My first mistake was thinking I could erect the thing. It was the most scariest thing I'd done in a while, I lost my nerve and could get high enough to reach the gable.
Taking the thing down on my own was far more scary. My advise have an helper on hand to erect and dismantle, or if the hire place give you that option, take it.
In the end I managed to paint up to the where the gable begins and couldn't get any higher. It still needs to be painted.
I hope you get on better than I did. Good luck!
you’ll fall a short distance onto an internal stage
Unless you didn't close the trapdoor/gate then it could be a couple of lifts. A renderer of my acquaintaince did this just as the new safety standard was coming in. He was 'in the zone' and stepped into space to finish a section. My, we laughed (well not me as I got to do the paperwork) and someone was an object lesson for all my WAH toolbox talks on scaffolding.