63A: Scaffold Addendum

After posting the last post I realized I hadn’t shown any close-ups of the scaffold, so you could see all the parts.

Here’s an annotated pic showing how the upper end goes together.

The base of the legs sit about 8’ out from the building, so it will take a lot of effort to push the scaffold away from the wall enough for it to fall over. Each leg is made from two 12’ long 2x4’s, overlapped in the center. In this pic the overlap is about 6’ long, so total leg length is 18’.

I also didn’t talk about how I get the scaffolds raised and lowered. To do that I attach my block and tackle to one of the purlins in the roof. Then it’s easy to hoist them up vertical.
To lay them down, just reverse the procedure. When laying them down, it helps if you get in between the legs, and lift the base of the scaffold a little off the ground and set the bottom brace on top of your butt. Don’t worry, all the weight is being held by the block and tackle. Then as you lower away on the block and tackle, just walk backwards slowly. That will keep the top of the scaffold from rubbing against the wall as it comes down.

From a safety perspective, while lowering the scaffold, realize that all the diagonal braces in the scaffold are several feet away from your body, so while it is lowering, if the block and tackle fails for any reason, you are not in a position to get hit by anything on the scaffold as it falls.