Scaffold tower domestic

danlightbulb · Tuesday at 13:00

Hi all

Has anyone got or used one of these?

Home Master DIY Scaffold Tower | BPS Depot

Scaffold Towers, welcome to BPS Depot your one stop shop for all your access solutions, please browse our range of commercial and domestic ladder, scaffold access solutions and our full range of multipurpose ladders and loft ladders. If your requirement is for industrial ladders access solutions...

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Are they decent?

My main concern is it doesn't have height adjustable legs so won't cope with any slightly sloping ground.

Thanks

GravyMonster · Tuesday at 15:57

Just to sanity check - do you need to purchase one outright? I rented something similar a few years back to paint my fascias and soffits and IIRC it was only about £90 for the week inc. delivery and pickup from HSS. This may have increased now though.

Maccapacca · Tuesday at 16:07

GravyMonster said:
Just to sanity check - do you need to purchase one outright? I rented something similar a few years back to paint my fascias and soffits and IIRC it was only about £90 for the week inc. delivery and pickup from HSS. This may have increased now though.

Yes rent a decent one from Travis Perkins or similar. 150kg isn't really much either, two builders, tools and some materials it'll be overweight.

Jimmeh · Tuesday at 16:11

GravyMonster said:
Just to sanity check - do you need to purchase one outright? I rented something similar a few years back to paint my fascias and soffits and IIRC it was only about £90 for the week inc. delivery and pickup from HSS. This may have increased now though.

Agree. Also consider storage.

@GravyMonster, did you get the MiTower from HSS? If so, did you get one with adjustable legs? I am looking at this for a job I have to do on a slope, but it's unclear how long the adjustable legs are.

GravyMonster · Tuesday at 16:16

Sorry - I can't remember the exact one I got, other than it was 4m tall, but it didn't have adjustable legs. I used some old planks to help spread the weight when I had to put it on the front lawn and to build up one side where the ground sloped slightly - but it wasn't a huge drop. Maybe 20-30cm over the width of the base. Not sure how 'safe' that's considered to be but I'm still alive :cry:

200sols · Tuesday at 16:17

Platform is only 50cm wide, too narrow for me.

aVdub · Tuesday at 17:00

If you do I would suggest a few stainless wall anchor hooks that will allow you to tie off when using it, or ladders.

danlightbulb · Tuesday at 17:20

GravyMonster said:
Just to sanity check - do you need to purchase one outright? I rented something similar a few years back to paint my fascias and soffits and IIRC it was only about £90 for the week inc. delivery and pickup from HSS. This may have increased now though.

I will need it for months on and off (weather depending) so hiring one will end up a lot more money. I can sell the tower in a couple of years when I've finished everything I have to do.

Maccapacca said:
Yes rent a decent one from Travis Perkins or similar. 150kg isn't really much either, two builders, tools and some materials it'll be overweight.

Only me, a few tools and a bucket of mixed up pointing mortar.

200sols said:
Platform is only 50cm wide, too narrow for me.

The width of my alleyway between the houses is about a metre max so I need something narrow enough to fit in there. It's also why I can't use a ladder as the angle would be too vertical.

aVdub said:
If you do I would suggest a few stainless wall anchor hooks that will allow you to tie off when using it, or ladders.

Good idea. However I don't think it will be able to move far. The passageway is narrow so it won't be able to fall to the sides. And the telescopic support arms will stop it moving longitudinally.

danlightbulb · Tuesday at 19:45

Measured the height to my guttering level and it's 5.3m.

The DIY level towers are relatively cheap for the lower 2 options but that only gets me to 4.75m working height (platform max height of 2.75m).

So then the working height 6m and 7m platforms really take a step up in price but get me platform heights of 4m and 5m respectively. There is only £20 difference between the 6m and 7m version.

200sols · Tuesday at 19:53

danlightbulb said:
Measured the height to my guttering level and it's 5.3m.

The DIY level towers are relatively cheap for the lower 2 options but that only gets me to 4.75m working height (platform max height of 2.75m).

So then the working height 6m and 7m platforms really take a step up in price but get me platform heights of 4m and 5m respectively. There is only £20 difference between the 6m and 7m version.

The 4 and 5m platforms on there don't include the 4 outriggers, the 6 and 7m do so the cost difference when you add the outrigger to the smaller platforms is not that big.

danlightbulb · Tuesday at 19:58

200sols said:
The 4 and 5m platforms on there don't include the 4 outriggers, the 6 and 7m do so the cost difference when you add the outrigger to the smaller platforms is not that big.

Yeah there's a lot of extra parts with the bigger towers. Outriggers plus extra platform plus extra support bars. I suppose it's not bad value. I'm surprised there aren't more for sale 2nd hand from people buying for a job then selling on.

Bluecube · Tuesday at 22:38

danlightbulb said:
Hi all

Has anyone got or used one of these?

Home Master DIY Scaffold Tower | BPS Depot

Scaffold Towers, welcome to BPS Depot your one stop shop for all your access solutions, please browse our range of commercial and domestic ladder, scaffold access solutions and our full range of multipurpose ladders and loft ladders. If your requirement is for industrial ladders access solutions...

www.bpsdepot.co.uk

Are they decent?

My main concern is it doesn't have height adjustable legs so won't cope with any slightly sloping ground.

Thanks

I had one of those exact one and they’re great for domestic purposes. Take a wee while to set up but once they’re up they’re fine to work from. The only issue as you point out is the lack of adjustable legs but if you can work around that then you’ll be fine.

Werewolf · Tuesday at 23:46

aVdub said:
If you do I would suggest a few stainless wall anchor hooks that will allow you to tie off when using it, or ladders.

Yarp

My dad used to work up ladders a lot, and when he was painting the ends of the house to reach the ridge, he'd put the a set of anchors into the wall, set up the scaffolding and tie the scaffolding to the anchors.

IIRC this was something like 10+ years before Sky installers started to do it when fitting dishes at half the height

MassiveJim · Wednesday at 10:13

looking at the design of it, you can put the platform that you stand on as high as you want to, so you could get to your 5.3m working height, but the safety bars wouldn't be as high.
I guess the whole thing might be a bit more unstable with your centre of gravity being even higher as well.

in your shoes I would just buy the 5m tower

200sols · Wednesday at 10:40

MassiveJim said:
looking at the design of it, you can put the platform that you stand on as high as you want to, so you could get to your 5.3m working height, but the safety bars wouldn't be as high.
I guess the whole thing might be a bit more unstable with your centre of gravity being even higher as well.

in your shoes I would just buy the 5m tower

Terrible idea. You don't want to be balancing with the platform bodged in a position where the safety bars are irrelevant.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · Wednesday at 11:23

200sols said:
Terrible idea. You don't want to be balancing with the platform bodged in a position where the safety bars are irrelevant.

Might as well just make a mountain of swivel chairs, would be just as "safe"

@danlightbulb Do they sell spare parts?

I used to work for the largest UK toolhire company, although not in tool hire but Finance.
Even with the proper youngman boss tower which is significantly chunkier than this stuff your looking at, components would get damaged.
Quite a high % of the billed damages was tower components.
Quite a high % of the billed losses was also tower as people loved to nick it to flog to scrapers.
You can pick up some on places like ebay if your less concerned about the source.

Dropped/bashed for something that is structural and you need to replace it.

One thing I would never ever buy cheap / second hand personally is working at height equipment.

danlightbulb · Wednesday at 11:26

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
@danlightbulb Do they sell spare parts?

Yeah through their phone centre directly.

Another company I'm looking at is Top Tower who are not far from me. Slightly more expensive but they do an adjustable legs add on for it.

Premium First 5 DIY Aluminium Scaffold Tower

Our lowest Priced Aluminium Tower - Up to 6.7m Working height with Extension Pack. To view our Assembly Video and for more detailed information, please scroll down.

www.toptower.co.uk

Once disassembled I think the poles are short enough to fit in my outhouse.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · Wednesday at 11:40

You probably don't want to spend this much but I would be buying this if I was looking for a tower providing 5.4m working height

https://www.screwfix.com/p/werner-pro-plus-single-depth-aluminium-tower-0-6m-x-1-5m-x-3-4m/111ha#product_additional_details_container

Plenty of places sell it.
Its the bottom grade of proper kit really.

danlightbulb · Wednesday at 12:46

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
You probably don't want to spend this much but I would be buying this if I was looking for a tower providing 5.4m working height

https://www.screwfix.com/p/werner-pro-plus-single-depth-aluminium-tower-0-6m-x-1-5m-x-3-4m/111ha#product_additional_details_container

Plenty of places sell it.
Its the bottom grade of proper kit really.

Thanks. It is much more money and still only gives a platform height of 3.4m which means when Im working near the top of the wall Im going to be at head height.

I don't think I can justify spending that much more for a lower tower even though I recognise its probably more robust.

MassiveJim · Wednesday at 13:45

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Might as well just make a mountain of swivel chairs, would be just as "safe"

@danlightbulb Do they sell spare parts?

I used to work for the largest UK toolhire company, although not in tool hire but Finance.
Even with the proper youngman boss tower which is significantly chunkier than this stuff your looking at, components would get damaged.
Quite a high % of the billed damages was tower components.
Quite a high % of the billed losses was also tower as people loved to nick it to flog to scrapers.
You can pick up some on places like ebay if your less concerned about the source.

Dropped/bashed for something that is structural and you need to replace it.

One thing I would never ever buy cheap / second hand personally is working at height equipment.

Bit of a bombastic statement.
I understand that it is not as safe but its hardly reckless is it.
just need to be more aware that the "safety bar" is at knee height instead of waist height.

still better than hanging off a ladder at that height.

Scaffold tower domestic

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