Currently working on a small house build at home, and now that it's time for roofing work, scaffolding needs to be built. The usual thing is to rent scaffolding, but with the recent bad weather, there's been time to ponder a bit, and it occurred to me that it should be possible to build one myself. Has anyone tried it?
The advantages of building one myself, as I see it, are the following:
- The cost may be similar, but all the materials can be reused.
- A great way to use scrap wood from the construction site.
- Always fun to build your own! =)
I have practically unlimited access to pallets, so I thought I'd try to use them to lower the cost a bit. I'm thinking something like this (see attached image). I've skimped on the wood as much as I dared; the challenge is to make it as cheap as possible! =). The wood in the image is as follows:
green - decking 28x120
yellow - stud 45x70
red - batten 25x5
Based on prices from Byggmax, the cost is about 1050 SEK if you buy all new wood. In reality, you of course use as much scrap wood as you have first. For example, you can replace the cross planks with the longitudinal wood from a pallet, skipping that cost, just disassemble a few pallets.
Can anyone come up with a better solution for the wall section in the example? And perhaps most importantly, would you dare to use this scaffolding?!
The scaffolding might not have fared badly with a diagonal brace at the front, but the question is whether it NEEDS it? It's rigid at the back, and the pallets will be screwed in, so they'll also make a significant contribution to the front.
It's not meant to feel like you're nailing into a dead surface if you'd like to drive a nail in a random spot. The goal is to be as cheap as possible, but of course, without the risk of it giving way.
By the way, I tested the load-bearing capacity of a pallet today that was only resting on beams at the short sides, as in the picture. Two of us jumped in the middle and you could barely feel any bending. Pleasantly surprised!
There are probably no issues with building a reliable structure from scrap wood and pallets. The problems likely come with the unforeseen or carelessness. Screws that miss the pallet, causing it not to be secured. Damage to the pallet that is not discovered in time. If you're careful when building, I don't see a major problem.
If you have so many pallets, why not just stack them and connect with some scrap wood?
It can't get cheaper than that, can it?
Stacked EU pallets are wobbly at height. Load lots of pallets but I would never want to stand on top of 15 pallets and work because it becomes too wobbly. Otherwise, the maximum weight on a EU-pallet is 1500 kg so they can withstand quite a lot. But I personally would never build scaffolding with them.
I recently built scaffolding for my construction project. I'm not aware of the cost but it doesn't really matter in my case since all the timber is used for interior walls etc.
Used 45x95 straight off with OSB to walk on. Various battens and board as crossbars and battens. It became very stable and could be moved in an hour by two men.
Have built a lot of scaffolding out of lumber, quickly and easily. The base is 3 good scaffolding planks, then it's just been scrap wood and 4" nails. You don't drive the nails in completely, so they are easy to pull out again. I have never used pallets, sounds heavy and cumbersome. The planks are easily moved around as needed. As previously mentioned, a cross is essential, makes the scaffold steady as granite. In Asia, scaffolding around skyscrapers is built from bamboo and wet ropes, which shrink when they dry. Borrowed a Haki scaffold from the neighbor when I needed to paint; it was just heavy, awkward, and time-consuming compared to lumber scaffolding.
Ok, let's try a new variant. We can probably agree that Violina won the prize for the stingiest build, i.e., with only pallets, but in practical terms, it's barely feasible, especially since I can't access this build by car. Difficult also on uneven ground. So that variant is not the one.
I've taken the criticism to heart and added a cross, and also altered the construction a bit. This one is easier to build as it is not dependent on the cc measurement of the wall studs. I think we're getting close to the best pallet solution considering the factors of stability, economy, and buildability.
Hep said:
Spontaneous answer to the last question: No.
Still skeptical?
I wouldn’t hesitate to go for it, I think this is going to be incredibly stable, but then again, I've never even bothered to build a scaffolding before, so this is luxury regardless. However, I'm not 20 years old anymore, so the challenge of climbing around like a monkey among roof trusses and temporarily installed ladders isn't as appealing as it used to be.
I don't really know what and if I have any opinion on the matter, the only thing I spontaneously want to say is that the word "snål" in my vocabulary is a word with a negative connotation.
Strongly negative.
I don't really know what and if I have any opinion on the matter, the only thing I want to spontaneously express is that the word "snål" in my vocabulary is a word with a negative connotation.
Strongly negative.
Say economical then. I don't think anyone wants to spend more money than necessary on a scaffolding that is, after all, just a temporary construction. The goal can be reformulated as I'm looking for a way to construct a cheap, easy-to-build, and stable scaffold using pallets, both for my own sake and to help others who have the same thoughts.
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Violina said:
Hep said:
Fotografen said: