"nightjar" nightjar@ insert_my_surname_here.uk.com wrote:
If you've ever had to put one up, you'll know to buy aluminium, not
steel.

Not my experience, my steel one is fine to put up. OK, if I was
assembling and disassembling it daily it would become hard work but
that really isn't normally the case for DIY use. Mine can be moved
once assembled so I can go along a wall for example without taking it
down and putting it up again.

I would be dubious about the safety of moving a 5m high tower about
(presumably outside) unless it were on a very level surface.

I think mine is about three or four metres, I agree that moving
anything five metres high would have to be done very carefully.
As my house is not very tall (upstairs rooms are partially in the
roof) it's not a problem for me. The only time I've used the tower at
full height is when topping some very tall Leylandii and to do that I
tied the tower to the tree (below the bit I was cutting off!).


Given that steel appears to be a *lot* cheaper than aluminium in my
case it's a choice of a steel tower or no tower at all.

I don't need one often enough to justify buying over hiring. I've borrowed a
steel one and hired aluminium. Because the aluminium ones were made for
commercial use, they had latching fixings to hold the tower components
together and extra diagonal bracings, which made the tower a lot more stable
than the steel one. They also had an integral ladder, leading up through a
trapdoor in the platform.

I think the choice for most DIYers lies between buying a steel tower
and hiring an aluminium one. For me the availability of the tower for
'spur of the moment' jobs is a real boon, especially as most jobs for
which one needs a tower are weather dependent. It's also (for me) a
long way to any hire ship as we live out in the country.

--
Chris Green