Plasterboard lifter

[stephen_lowfield]

Hi all, I am doing a renovation and extension. The extension is going to have a vaulted ceiling in a bungalow. I don’t want to pay a fortune for one. I have seen some for about £130 to £150 on amazon. Are these any good? I don’t really want to hire as it’s about £60 to hire and I will be doing it myself so won’t be the quickest. So going to just bite the bullet and buy one. Any recommendations?

 

[ree]

OP,
Yes, buy one, pay a top price for good gear, and later sell it on e-bay. Or even buy off e-bay?
The average lift height is about 11ft - more than enough for your vaulted ceiling.

 

[robinbanks]

I bought one that, when it arrived turned out to have been bashed in transit and wouldn't extend. Complained to the seller, they offered a part refund of 50%, I took a grinder to the folded parts and it's been great since. I wholeheartedly recommend them for one-person boarding jobs

Loooks like eBay item 157490487572 is what ree is suggesting; someone who bought one, did one job with it then flogs it again, 83 quid..
But given that item 404817665130 is only 27 quid more new delivered, unless it was within 10 mins drive I'm not sure I'd even bother the time/diesel

One thing I found with mine that I always felt was a bit of a design flaw, is in the way the wire winds round the drum when you turn the handle. The way the machine has a slight pull to the side in the cable makes the cable pile up on top of itself, so I tend to manually "steer" the cable as it winds so it spreads out neatly across the drum, as piling it up on top of itself damages it if the whole lot re jiggles, and it also causes the board to drop. Wound neatly in layers that go back and forward over themselves the behaviour is much more predictable

In short, as you wind push left/right on the tense cable so it ends up looking like this:

Not like this:

.
Wear strong gloves whenever you grab ahold of a steel rope, and individual strands can break and end up sticking out of the rope like needles; they make a real mess of your skin

For fine adjustment of the lift height, don't grab the handle on the wheel, turn it by the wheel itself, and don't tighten the board hard against the ceiling from the get-go as you'll likely need some adjustment/slack to nudge the board around

 

[stephen_lowfield]

OP,
Yes, buy one, pay a top price for good gear, and later sell it on e-bay. Or even buy off e-bay?
The average lift height is about 11ft - more than enough for your vaulted ceiling.

Thanks ree. I was looking at the 16ft but guessing that’s overkill for what I need. So might as well go the 11ft then. Any makes you recommend?
As was thinking this one https://amzn.eu/d/0LFJRqY

 

[stephen_lowfield]

I bought one that, when it arrived turned out to have been bashed in transit and wouldn't extend. Complained to the seller, they offered a part refund of 50%, I took a grinder to the folded parts and it's been great since. I wholeheartedly recommend them for one-person boarding jobs

Loooks like eBay item 157490487572 is what ree is suggesting; someone who bought one, did one job with it then flogs it again, 83 quid..
But given that item 404817665130 is only 27 quid more new delivered, unless it was within 10 mins drive I'm not sure I'd even bother the time/diesel

One thing I found with mine that I always felt was a bit of a design flaw, is in the way the wire winds round the drum when you turn the handle. The way the machine has a slight pull to the side in the cable makes the cable pile up on top of itself, so I tend to manually "steer" the cable as it winds so it spreads out neatly across the drum, as piling it up on top of itself damages it if the whole lot re jiggles, and it also causes the board to drop. Wound neatly in layers that go back and forward over themselves the behaviour is much more predictable

In short, as you wind push left/right on the tense cable so it ends up looking like this:
View attachment 400086

Not like this:

View attachment 400087


.
Wear strong gloves whenever you grab ahold of a steel rope, and individual strands can break and end up sticking out of the rope like needles; they make a real mess of your skin

For fine adjustment of the lift height, don't grab the handle on the wheel, turn it by the wheel itself, and don't tighten the board hard against the ceiling from the get-go as you'll likely need some adjustment/slack to nudge the board around

Thanks robin really appreciate the help. Would have got the vaunt one but I live in Nottinghamshire so no point the drive. I will definitely make sure I lay the cables nice in it. What you reckon this one https://amzn.eu/d/0LFJRqY

 

[robinbanks]

Yeah, I think they're all the same design; it seems to be that one renowned company does all the R&D and becomes the original DeWalt/Stanley/Makita/Bosch pro version of a thing, and then 100 factories in China to start churning out copies of them that are good enough for a few jobs - they wouldn't take the punishment of a trade setting, but you don't really need it to be that - and then these clones all get put on Amazon or eBay, sold by companies whose names are just a bunch of consonants and the companies are there for two or three months, punt a few thousand, closed down, start a new one.. so if there are any issues/returns/complaints/whatever then it never goes anywhere..

 

[stephen_lowfield]

Yeah, I think they're all the same design; it seems to be that one renowned company does all the R&D and becomes the original DeWalt/Stanley/Makita/Bosch pro version of a thing, and then 100 factories in China to start churning out copies of them that are good enough for a few jobs - they wouldn't take the punishment of a trade setting, but you don't really need it to be that - and then these clones all get put on Amazon or eBay, sold by companies whose names are just a bunch of consonants and the companies are there for two or three months, punt a few thousand, closed down, start a new one.. so if there are any issues/returns/complaints/whatever then it never goes anywhere..

Ahhh that makes sense. I have gone for it. Should be here on Wednesday. Then I can start plasterboarding and insulating to keep the heat in as extension is currently only 6 degrees

 

[mattylad]

.

 

[robinbanks]

Then I can start plasterboarding and insulating to keep the heat in as extension is currently only 6 degrees

What does your insulation detail look like?

 

[stephen_lowfield]

What does your insulation detail look like?

At the moment I am doing a side extension. Which is a normal 2.6m ceiling. Just finished the ceiling joists today. So going to plasterboard and put 370mm loft insulation in. As all the heat going straight through to the loft and out the roof. The vaulted ceiling is coming later when we do the rear extension