Hi All I am working on restoring our wooden frame windows at the back of the property. The front ones are all UPVC, but the back ones are all the original wooden frame windows from .... don't know exactly when, but they look very tired. I finished a couple of them on down stairs rooms, but the upstairs windows does not open swing as they are hinged, and open side ways. I cannot access the front of the windows from inside. This means I must climbe on the ladder to scape and paint the frame from outside of the property. I tried with my 5m ladder, but found it unstable, and could not really scrape the frame due to dizziness. So I came down and looked around the scaffolding towers on eBay and Amazon. There seem aluminum and metal ones for sale. Which one is better? Any recommendation? It should give at least 5 meters of working height for the upstairs windows. TIA
Worry is that they only allow 7 days per a hire. If it rained for 4-5 days (as often does), then paid the hire money but no works done.
I have quick stage scaffolding which is quick to put up and very strong. A 16ft tower is £700 -£800 depending on the deck you want. I would always go for the metal battens (deck board) as they feel much better uderrfoot. The advantage with this type is that because it can be worked into different shapes / heights people are always wanting to add to their sets. So there shouldn't be a problem using it for a year then moving it on. Whilst it is simple to use, always get a demo especially how to brace the tall towers
Looking at my hire cat here, they can offer 'Long Term' rates on alloy towers. Can always rig up a work cover, so rain don't stop play, I use to rig up 4 poles, a front support & a tarp,sloped away from the working area.
Also when you buy one of these will mean, you can use it for other jobs like checking and clearing gutters, hedge cutting and these wooden frame windows will need to be painted regularly say once every 2 - 3 years? So we are thinking of buying one. Its just Ally ones look flimsy, and the Metal ones look cumbersome to store and set up.
Paint windows every 2-3 years,proper preperation & one of the long life gloss like Flexigloss X-tra, Dulux Weathershield, should easily double the time between painting. Astramax will know of others.
This time, we are using up the old left over paint tubs from the shed from 5 year ago. Some tubs gone off, and had to be binned. Some seem ok, so just using them up. Due to this, we don't expect it will give full strength. It might only last a year or two. If more, that would be a bonus.
I am still not sure which scaffolding tower would be better. The steel ones (the red coloured one on eBay) or Ally ones (they are also on eBay). Working height I need is at least 5 meters for scraping and painting the upstairs windows. The red colored steel ones seem more durable and heavy duty, but you must buy essential parts extra such as platform boards, outriggers and wall attaching clamps etc. Ally ones are self contained board, may have to add the outriggers at extra cost, but it looks as if they will flip over by puff of winds. My budget is between £210 - £300 max.
Don't know about the budget but industry standard is Ali, erected hundreds of those but never used a steel one.
The Aly ones on eBay within my budget look like a pair of ladders linked by a few poles. One of the photos on the Aly tower for sale on eBay shows a guy lifting the fully set up tower with one hand with mysterious grin.