Why Contractors Need It?
As a construction developer, engineer, architect or contractor, you have probably realized by now that there are those projects that need special scaffold engineering or scaffolding services. These are specialized engineering services offering the appropriate support system from which workers and contractors can reach certain heights of the exterior or interior of a building to complete a construction remodel or build. In some cases, scaffolding is also used to offer support to building or architectural structures to ensure personal and structural safety.
There are basically three categories of scaffolding systems: suspended, supported and aerial. But within each system different scaffold equipment is used, and in some scaffolding engineering designs a combination of types can be used depending on the job site needs. The different types of scaffold equipment include systems scaffold, tube and clamp, rolling towers, frame scaffold, stairways, hallway scaffold, mason scaffold, hanging scaffold, baker scaffold, event stages, single point suspended scaffold, multi point suspended scaffold, two point suspended scaffold, swing stages, boatswain’s chairs and interior hung scaffold. Additionally scaffolding designers will combine these elements with mast supported platforms such as lifts, mast climbers, hoists and elevators. Let’s go into a little more detail as to the three types of scaffolding:
Suspended Scaffolding
This type of scaffold is suspended by cables held on the roof or top of the building. This type scaffold is made of pulleys, switches and levers allowing the worker to raise or lower the scaffold to the work position. This type of scaffold design is most often used on high rise or several storied buildings.
Supported Scaffolding Services
This type of scaffold is build from the ground up. It consists of a design and construction of scaffolds with poles, lumber, pulleys, hoists and masts. Construction workers usually climb up a ladder placed in the center of the scaffold to get to the work platform. Supported scaffolds can be designed and built to be fully grounded around part or the entire construction site, or can be made mobile by attaching wheels to the bottom of the pole supports.
Aerial Lifts
These are mounted systems that lift to higher elevations. These are systems used to lift scaffolding equipment to higher locations or changed locations as needed.
The Design
The purpose in designing a scaffolding system is so that a structure or the right scaffolds are set up for the duration of the job. This saves time and helps construction workers use their time more efficiently as they don’t continually need to build up temporary scaffold solutions. Besides, there are some sites, especially those that are historic, that need special scaffolding design and engineering to protect the existing construction.
The Construction Time
The time it takes to place a scaffolding system is dependent on the construction site. In most cases, designing and building an effective scaffold engineering system takes a day or two. But by the same token, there are also specialized job sites where the architecture is fragile and these may require more structural support, specialized design, and special scaffold builds. This type of design could take a few weeks to design and implement. Again, this is dependent on the size of the construction site, the type of build, the age of the building and the location. All are factors a scaffold engineering company needs to consider for each construction site scaffolding system.
Featured images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
Slobac is familiar with information about contractors for scaffolding designs. Slobac searches DH Glabe online when in need of information about this topic.
