stilts

[roughcaster]

Stilts are the way to go if you can get used to them. And usually with a bit of practice you will. I have had a few pairs of " dura -stilts " and am now waiting for the price of "sky walker" stilts to come down,They are easier to put on and take off and seem to be the "Bee's knees" in plastering stilts. Just remember everything has to go up a "lift" when working off stilts, and you have to make sure if you are working on your own that you have everything set up so you can take them off and put them on when you clean tools and second coat. But if you work with a labourer then there's no probs... Go for it.. Have a look on the "Axminster Tools " site they were the cheapest I could find and have had a few pairs from them.If you are looking for stilts on any site ,be careful as some sites advertise stilts as "Skywalker" and they are "Dura".

You can tell the difference as "skywalkers" have one leg,

Long John Silver was a skywalker then Roy,,,, aaaarrrrggghhhhhhhhhh Jim lad.
Never used stilts in me life.

 

[jrplastering]

the company i do site work for dnt allow stilts on site, and i diddt mean liturally scaff the room out i ment like the youngmans quick clip towers thier really good but do require a labrador to push you around as for domestic site you can use stilts but i still prefere not to at least if i loose ballance off the hop up theres a good chance i can correct and land on my feet whereas on stilts you dnt have time to undo them take them off and land on ya feet whilst falling haha unless you are bloody quick and if you can do it please let me know cos i would very much wish to see that amazeing feat haha as i said personal preferance by all means try them and see what you think

 

[Micilin]

the company i do site work for dnt allow stilts on site, and i diddt mean liturally scaff the room out i ment like the youngmans quick clip towers thier really good but do require a labrador to push you around as for domestic site you can use stilts but i still prefere not to at least if i loose ballance off the hop up theres a good chance i can correct and land on my feet whereas on stilts you dnt have time to undo them take them off and land on ya feet whilst falling haha unless you are bloody quick and if you can do it please let me know cos i would very much wish to see that amazeing feat haha as i said personal preferance by all means try them and see what you think

I know whar you mean, but those firms I mentioned, major builders will not let you put up any ali towers, and every hop up or scaffold has to have a handrail , every scaffold cannot have any gaps around it. Working off youngmans with no handrails - not allowed . But stilts are.

And you don't need the labrador to push you around!

Like you say, its whatever works for you best. Stiltas are bad for your back as well, But you won't find big builders banning them

 

[jrplastering]

yeah the ali towers do have hand rails well the ones we use do

 

[Micilin]

yeah the ali towers do have hand rails well the ones we use do

We used to board out rooms with 'Split Boards'-there were other names for them.

You had a piece of ply, or scaffold board , about 10" wide, and maybe 2 '-3' long. On one end was a channel cut out which would take a scaffold board on it's edge. This was then nailed to a similar size ply with an overlap . Where you overlapped it depended on the height of the scaffold you needed, the nails were to adjust the height. These were leant against the wall, at an angle, and about 6' apart (varied on size of room) Scaffold boards were put in the channels, so you had them across the room. Then you put scaffold bards flat (as per normal) across these at right angles . They only had to be a decent step apart ( no full decks back then!) The advantage of these was they were easily adjustable, cheap, easy to carry up and down stairs and could lie flat in the van not like bandstands. In big rooms you had to have support in the middle to make the span with an extra board.

They were handy when you had a run of houses, where the rooms in each house would be roughly the same size, or uses with a few bandstands.

Most scaffolds had a fair bit of spring in them, which you got used to and you also got used to walking over the gaps from board to board while looking up at the ceiling. The HSE would shoot you on sight now. No one ever fell off them.

IMHO the handiest way for the ceilings without scaffold is a bench, made up on the job from scaffold boards, with a brace at each top angle and a v cut in teh legs to stop it rocking, or maybe a bit of 2 x1 nailed across teh bottom leg to make it wider at the floor. A bench the right size will let you go across most rooms from one side to the other , or at least get ceilings done with the least number of moves.

Probably a criminal offence now even describing it.

 

[Micilin]

yeah the ali towers do have hand rails well the ones we use do

How do you cross trowel the ceiling to finish it, do you stand still on the tower while the lad pushes it?

Does he have to hand every hawkful up to you ?

I hate working off towers, but on high ceilings they are sometimes the only option. Non productive, awkward and you can't trowel up the ceiling properly, but they get you out of a spot

 

[jrplastering]

usually to cross trowel it off a tower i go from one side to the middle then to the other end and back to the midle then if it needs it turn the tower and one strike down the middle and no he just passes the bucket up and i feed my self whilst he knocks up anouther one or two what evers required really

 

[Micilin]

usually to cross trowel it off a tower i go from one side to the middle then to the other end and back to the midle then if it needs it turn the tower and one strike down the middle and no he just passes the bucket up and i feed my self whilst he knocks up anouther one or two what evers required really

Whatever works best - if you are doing houses, do you have an tower in each room?

 

[jrplastering]

no cos usually in a house i can quite easily spread a ceilin off a ali hop up or a couple with a board inbetween plus you only need one tower thier very easy to unclip and move once you have done your hit

 

[Micilin]

no cos usually in a house i can quite easily spread a ceilin off a ali hop up or a couple with a board inbetween plus you only need one tower thier very easy to unclip and move once you have done your hit

We usually have to use those SPS Oxford Systems for the stairs -(or two ladders and a plank if you can lock the door!)

 

[stevethespreader]

no cos usually in a house i can quite easily spread a ceilin off a ali hop up or a couple with a board inbetween plus you only need one tower thier very easy to unclip and move once you have done your hit

not so long ago i was on a site where 2 spreads walked off site when they were told off for using hop ups (but they couldn't have had much on because they were back the next day) anyway back to the story, the tackers had boxed some pipes in 3 different rooms and they wanted me to skim them so there were 3 colums in 3 rooms and site policy was to use podiums which meant if i used one of those i would have to do the colums one at a time because of setting them up and dimantling them and it would have took all day, so i said if you turn a blind eye to my hop up ill get them done in one hit and thats what happened they turns a blind eye when it suits them, tbh to unclip and move the podium for each room doing all 3 at once would have been an impossibility

 

[jrplastering]

as i said if you can use a hop up its all down to what your allowed to use and what you prefere i prefere not to use stilts and thier an accident waiting to happen IMO

 

[stevethespreader]

as i said thier an accident waiting to happen IMO

well your entitled to your oppinion but what are you gonna do when someone asks you to skim a ceiling that is almost 40m2? ive seen this done on stilts by one spread in one hit, i was knocking the up for him it was an absolute pleasure to watch, it is maybe a bit beyond me now with my knees but as long as the floor is clear of tools debris cables or anything else you can trip over for that matter, stilts are safe ive known spreads that have been using them for years with no accidents what so ever

 

[jrplastering]

the reason i dnt like them is because i saw a plasterer a very good friend of mine plastering with me on stilts and i used a hop up he just lost his balance just from turning around a bit to quickly fell couldnt correct himself cut his wrists rarther seriously and his face accross his eye with his trowel he lost alot of blood an was rushed to hospital and recieved alot of stitches needless to say he has permantly ruined his face so i will stick with my way at least i feel safe that way, also i have done a 30m2 ceilin on my own with just a labrador off of a ali tower on wheels and wassnt pushed for time although it was a nice square room no alcoves and such

 

[keyplayer]

I've got a pair of Ulka stilts and although I don't do much plastering I think they're brilliant. When I first got them I didn't feel that safe on them and found them pretty uncomfortable, especially at the alloy half round section just under the knee, and for ages they were just sat at the back of the workshop. But then curiosity got the better of me and I had another look at them. This time I spent ages trying out different settings as there are loads of permutations and eventually got them set up just perfectly. Now they just feel like an extension of my legs and I feel really safe on them. You want them set up so they're not trying to push out at the top, and the spring tension is important too. It's worth spending a lot of time getting the settings right for you even though you have to get on and off them for each setting change. Once you get this right, they're a doddle. I can dance nearly as good as that ytube bod on mine, although I'm more of a drum 'n' bass type myself.