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Tower Scaffolding

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Tower Scaffolding

Postby BigMonka » 20 Jul 2021, 18:43

Hi folks, I’ve got a tall leylandi hedge that I regularly need to trim the top of so I’m thinking of getting a tower scaffold as doing it from a ladder makes an awful job even worse! I was also thinking that it would help me with various other DIY jobs like cleaning gutters and repainting fasciae.
Anyway I’m getting a bit overwhelmed by all the different options of size, shape, height, material, manufacturer etc so have come to the DIY hive mind for some recommendations and useful advice please. Can anyone offer any please?
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby Trevanion » 20 Jul 2021, 18:50

Would tall builder's trestles work? I set up three with a couple of longish scaffold planks on top when doing the tall hedges (8ft or so) and it works reasonably well, although there's no safety railing so you have to be vigilant not to step backward off the planks.

Tower scaffolds tend to be quite cumbersome to set up and move around by yourself so an extra pair of hands is pretty much essential if you go down that route. The trestles by comparison are easy to set up by yourself and to work your way along you simply push the planks along, pull the rear end trestle out, put it at the front (the way in which you intend to move) and then pull the planks onto it, cut the hedge and repeat until the whole run is done, it's a lot of climbing up and down but you'd get that with any other thing that wasn't operatable with a remote such as a small cherry picker or scissor lift :lol:
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby Mike G » 20 Jul 2021, 19:19

The first question with scaffolding of any description, or builders trestles, is what is the ground like? If the ground is uneven, or with lots of obstacles or even changes of surface, then a scaffold can be more trouble than it's worth. If the ground is flat and clear then some tower scaffolding might make sense. There's always second hand stuff coming up on Ebay.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby AJB Temple » 20 Jul 2021, 20:04

I have an industrial scaffold tower which is about 1m wide and about 2m long and will rise in sections to about 7.5m. It has wheels and outriggers. It has paid for itself many times over.

It is very useful for hedges, building work and gutters. However, I do not like heights at all and the maximum height I will have the platform is about 4m, even with all four outriggers attached. For a tall hedge I will even tie it to the hedge...

The safety rails are below waist height too which I am not fond of, but I am over 6ft 2" so if you are shorter it may be fine for you.

Be aware too that when using it for hedge cutting you need room to handle your tools - like starting a petrol hedge trimmer or chain saw. Unless you are on level firm ground you will not want to move it along without coming down.

I would feel safer on a square one 2m by 2m, but that is less useful for interior building work and is harder to get into tight spots.

Don't forget you need somewhere to store the bits when not in use, and really it takes 2 people to assemble.

I would not dream of using a flimsy DIY one personally, but I am a scaredy cat.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby flying haggis » 20 Jul 2021, 20:11

how high is the hedge you are trimming? would a long reach hedge trimmer be an option?
ie https://static.stihl.com/upload/assetma ... cf9514.jpg you can even get extension poles too extend the shaft length (stop sniggering at the back !) our hedges look like this all round the garden
20190410_152827.jpg
(839.44 KiB)
and I use a long reach trimmer like the one in the pic
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby AJB Temple » 20 Jul 2021, 20:21

You cannot cut tall Leylandii like that unfortunately as the tops will go brown and not regrow. It is unfortunately one of those hedges that needs cutting quite often, or topping out at a height you cannot see fro m the garden or house.

Good idea re pole trimmer though. I have a Stihl one with two carbon extension poles and you can fit hedge trimmer or chainsaw pruner. Very good. Buy battery now, not petrol (mine is petrol). However, it is heavy to lift and tiring to use, even with a harness (essential). I should say that some of our hedges are around 6-7m tall.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby flying haggis » 20 Jul 2021, 20:25

A lot of my hedge is leylandi and I keep it a manageable height ie as tall as the trimmer can reach is as tall as I let it grow to. 6-7m is very tall and needs a special method to trim, I know I wouldnt like to try it.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby Lons » 20 Jul 2021, 21:21

It will sometimes grow in again over time Adrian, I have a leylandii front hedge that was badly overgrown and I chopped a good 4 ft off the top a long time ago, the hedge is a good 3ft across the top and from memory it took at least 5 years to grow in again but it did and the top is now solid close cropped and green, the base has also grown back which surprised me. The hedge is around 30 yards long, 8ft high at one end but because the ground outside slopes it's probably 10ft at the other. maybe I've been lucky though.

I use builders trestles and a couple of Newman boards as far as I can and an old damn heavy tower where it's high.
I feel like moving every time the hedges need cutting as it's a 3 to 4 day job, the vast majority being hawthorn and I find I'm digging out thorns for days afterwards.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby Mike G » 20 Jul 2021, 21:58

Hawthorn! Bah...... I see your hawthorn and raise to a blackthorn. Miles of the bloody stuff (well, that's what it feels like). It's got me through the soles of my boots at least twice.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby RogerS » 20 Jul 2021, 22:14

AJB Temple wrote:You cannot cut tall Leylandii like that unfortunately as the tops will go brown and not regrow. It is unfortunately one of those hedges that needs cutting quite often, or topping out at a height you cannot see fro m the garden or house.
....


All that Leylandii need is a chain saw about 0.5" above ground level.

I've had two of these towers and they work well.

https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co ... jeEALw_wcB

However I'd never buy fromthese cowboys again.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby Lons » 21 Jul 2021, 00:32

Mike G wrote:Hawthorn! Bah...... I see your hawthorn and raise to a blackthorn. Miles of the bloody stuff (well, that's what it feels like). It's got me through the soles of my boots at least twice.


I still have some of that Mike though I took the majority out, horrible stuff unless you want an impenetrable barrier. The biggest issue I find is that the thorn wounds go septic if you don't get them out and cleaned properly.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby Pete Maddex » 21 Jul 2021, 08:52

Mike G wrote:Hawthorn! Bah...... I see your hawthorn and raise to a blackthorn. Miles of the bloody stuff (well, that's what it feels like). It's got me through the soles of my boots at least twice.


Do you make sloe gin?

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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby Cabinetman » 21 Jul 2021, 12:46

Oh yes, you reminded me what blackthorn is, those thorns are just so – well thorny!
You could almost use them as nails, i’m sure they must have had uses for them in the old days.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby Lons » 21 Jul 2021, 16:04

Cabinetman wrote:Oh yes, you reminded me what blackthorn is, those thorns are just so – well thorny!
You could almost use them as nails, i’m sure they must have had uses for them in the old days.

When we moved in here there was a mixed, mostly blackthorn / hawthorn wild hedge at the bottom of the garden it was about 15 ft high and 8ft deep with a barbed wire fence on the field side but thin in places and you could just about squeeze through the gaps. A few years later I was upstairs just as it was getting dark and noticed 3 strapping lads walking across the width of my garden, they could only have gained access from a neighbour who'd been burgled the week before, I opened the window and yelled what the **** do you think you're doing and dashed downstairs grabbing a hammer on the way by which time they had bolted straight through the hedge in 3 different places, I can still remember the screams and swear words :eusa-doh: I climbed over a corner and chased them across the field but they, probably lucky for me got to their car and hoofed it.
I got the reg and called the police who came out and gave me a right ticking off for chasing them with a weapon saying if I'd hit one of them I'd have been arrested, true enough but I wasn't amused and said as much.

My wife was a nurse on A&E at the time and put the word out to watch for lads ripped to shreds with infected wounds but we never found them but they didn't pay a return visit either ;)
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby RogerS » 21 Jul 2021, 17:21

Lons wrote:I got the reg and called the police who came out and gave me a right ticking off for chasing them with a weapon saying if I'd hit one of them I'd have been arrested, true enough but I wasn't amused and said as much.
......


Lesson for the Day - Hide the hammer next time :D
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby SamQ aka Ah! Q! » 21 Jul 2021, 17:33

You Mainland Lot are SO lucky! If we had cut down a "Fairy Thorn" back in ol' County Derry, "The Little Folk" would have been so peeved at you, there would have been seven years' bad luck, your daughter would be barren and your son lost at sea, the cows would have gone dry, and RogerS would have moved in next door... ;)
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby RogerS » 21 Jul 2021, 18:21

SamQ aka Ah! Q! wrote:You Mainland Lot are SO lucky! If we had cut down a "Fairy Thorn" back in ol' County Derry, "The Little Folk" would have been so peeved at you, there would have been seven years' bad luck, your daughter would be barren and your son lost at sea, the cows would have gone dry, and RogerS would have moved in next door... ;)


You can go off people :lol:
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby wallace » 22 Jul 2021, 10:39

my house came with some big nasty leylandi which were as tall as the house, I got a knock at the door from some 'landscapers' touting for work. So I said take 4m off the top of them. Okay they said in their finest irish brogue. That will be £2OO. This was about 3Om of trees which I really did not want to do myself. I left them to it and when they were finished paid them. When I went to check their work they had indeed took 4m off but had laid the waste at the top of the tree like a path 5m in the tree. That was 15years ago and its still there. I love hedges and the wildlife they bring but cutting them is pita. I managed to cut 4Om of privet before it got to hot yesterday.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby BigMonka » 02 Aug 2021, 15:13

Hi folks, apologies that I've been MIA for a couple of weeks!
To respond to the queries/suggestions:
  • Builders trestles sound like a good idea but I need to be higher and more stable than that
  • The ground is mainly, but not entirely, flat. This may pose a problem but maybe with telescopic outriggers I might be able to get it stable enough?
  • I've already got a long reach Stihl hedge trimmer which is brilliant for doing the sides, but the depth of the hedge means that unless I get higher then I can't do the full depth of the tops. I might even need a long reach pole saw attachment for the Stihl Kombi unit to get through any thicker branches.
  • I've actually got some blackthorn hedging that needs trimming too - the long reach hedge trimmer is definitely required so that you can stay a safe distance from the vicious thorns! Maybe a flame thrower is more appropriate for black or hawthorn :evil:
  • The tips about cutting a decent height off and then leaving it a few years to re-establish are where will be probably go for most of the hedge but there are a few bits that need to stay high as a noise and wind barrier
  • I'm thinking of going for this one: https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk/acatalog/Premium-DIY-Scaffold-Towers.html Noting roger's bad experience with them, although I have previously had good experience of ladders from them.

Just to clarify though, anyone thinking of planting a leylandii hedge... don't do it!
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby TrimTheKing » 02 Aug 2021, 15:36

BigMonka wrote:[*] I'm thinking of going for this one: https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk/acatalog/Premium-DIY-Scaffold-Towers.html Noting roger's bad experience with them, although I have previously had good experience of ladders from them.[/list]


I bought the same 5m one with outriggers from those guys back in 2015 for £249 (through Amazon) and was a pain free experience. I also bought the 2m extension kit a couple of years later and again no issues.

Tower is sturdy enough and with the outriggers properly adjusted makes for a very steady and helpful platform. I'm not amazing with working at height but this is steady enough to keep me confident enough to do what's required.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby novocaine » 02 Aug 2021, 15:39

for a 5m platform, that's cheap as chips. it would cost me that to hire similar for a the few weeks I need it for when I repaint the house. the builder of our extension has offered me to hire his at a cheap rate lucky for me. :D
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby TrimTheKing » 02 Aug 2021, 16:06

novocaine wrote:for a 5m platform, that's cheap as chips. it would cost me that to hire similar for a the few weeks I need it for when I repaint the house. the builder of our extension has offered me to hire his at a cheap rate lucky for me. :D



Or you could borrow mine for nothing...
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby RogerS » 02 Aug 2021, 18:48

BigMonka wrote:.....
[*] I'm thinking of going for this one: https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk/acatalog/Premium-DIY-Scaffold-Towers.html Noting roger's bad experience with them, although I have previously had good experience of ladders from them.
...!

Just be aware that the shorter towers only have very small outiggers and TBH I don't think they give enough stability. DAMHIKT.

How about a tripod ladder ?
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby BigMonka » 02 Aug 2021, 19:59

RogerS wrote:
BigMonka wrote:.....
[*] I'm thinking of going for this one: https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk/acatalog/Premium-DIY-Scaffold-Towers.html Noting roger's bad experience with them, although I have previously had good experience of ladders from them.
...!

Just be aware that the shorter towers only have very small outiggers and TBH I don't think they give enough stability. DAMHIKT.

How about a tripod ladder ?

Using a long hedge trimmer or pole saw whilst up any sort of ladder feels really dodgy to me (having done that whilst doing these hedges for the last 10years), so I think a platform is probably the right way to go this time thanks Roger.
Thanks a lot for the info about the small outriggers though. I was thinking of going for their tallest so that its the most versatile for future uses and not needing to go back and try and buy more bits but struggling with compatibility between this and future versions.
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Re: Tower Scaffolding

Postby TrimTheKing » 02 Aug 2021, 20:28

Want me to go and measure the outriggers? Unless Roger and my definition of ‘short’ differ substantially then perhaps we had different outriggers because I’d say mine extend to around 4 metres and I can be at the top of the 7m tower and wobble it around way more vigorously than I ever would in normal use and not feel like it’s in any way unstable...
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