On Sun, 06 Jun 2004 23:24:00 +0100, Andy Dingley wrote:
On Sun, 6 Jun 2004 16:20:51 +0100, Frank Shute
wrote:
I need to put up scaffolding around my summer house in Finland in
order to do some work on the outside.
Since softwood lumber is plentiful and cheap there I was thinking of
building it myself.
I really wouldn't do this.
Steel tube scaffolding is quick to assemble and because it's re-usable
afterwards, the cost is reasonable. A free-standing steel tower is
even better.
The problem is that I can only manage to spend a couple of months a
year there and at that rate I'll only be able to finish the work on
the outside (re-clad and insulate) over a few years.
For timber, then I know how to build semi-permanent staging. This is
strong, safe, and perfectly adequate to work from. However it takes
appreciable work to assemble it, even if the timber cost is free.
There's no way I know to build something with the ease and low labour
costs of steel tube and scaff clamps. I can do it, but not quickly.
If the timber is truly free, or if you're buying it anyway for some
other reason, then maybe this will work for you. But I can't really
see it, because of the extra workload and time involved.
The timber is cheap and I can always use it on another project once
the outside is complete. I understand what you're saying about time
but cost is important to me whereas I'm not too bothered if the job
takes longer..
It's also illegal to do this in the UK, unless it's entirely on your
own property, it's more than some magic distance from the nearest
public road, and no public or even other tradesmen have access to it.
The rules changed a few months ago and any "scaffolding" must now be
of approved design and checked by a qualified scaffolding rigger (NB -
you can still assemble it yourself, so long as they OK it). Given the
public hazards caused by some dodgy scaffolding in the past, then I
don't have a problem with this ruling.
This is in Finland so I can always plead ignorance
BTW - You might like to post in uk.d-i-y too.
Thanks Andy. I was thinking of which other groups to post to.
--
Frank
http://www.freebsd.org/