Building Equipment

Building equipment for access and work at height

The range covers four means of access, and the right one depends on how long the access is needed, how many people use it and whether they carry tools and materials as they go.

Steel scaffold ladders and aluminium extension ladders

A ladder suits short-duration work and access to a scaffold lift where a stairway would be out of proportion to the task. Steel scaffold ladders are the heavier choice for a fixed access point tied into a scaffold. For a ladder that moves around the job, professional aluminium extension ladders suit general trade use. The industrial aluminium extension ladders are tested to loads above those the standard requires, and all three are tested to EN 131.

Temporary stairways

A temporary stairway replaces a ladder when a route is used all day, by several trades, or by people carrying materials. The modular steel stairway is built from connecting units to climb between floors, up embankments or out of excavations, and it fixes to scaffold or a concrete slab. The temporary aluminium stairway is light enough to carry in by hand and erect in minutes where plant cannot reach the work area.

Staging boards and handrail walkways

Staging boards, which many sites still call Youngman boards, span between trestles or other supports to form a platform or walkway across a span. The handrail and board walkway adds aluminium handrails on one or both sides for a guarded route, and staging posts and universal handrail posts take scaffold boards as toe boards and tube as the handrail.

Builders trestles and trestle accessories

Builders trestle tables are set to the height the work needs and carry scaffold boards as a low platform for bricklayers, plasterers and carpenters. A trestle run is made safe with its accessories. Trestle stabilisers steady each trestle against tipping, and trestle safety posts fix to the trestle to hold boards as a guardrail and toe board. A trestle gate controls the point of access, a ladder bracket gives a fixed climb onto the deck, and S brackets lock overlapping boards together. The full range is in the builders trestles category.

Stair guard posts, hole covers and scaffold lights

Open stairwells and service holes need guarding as soon as they are formed. Stair guard safety posts take scaffold boards to form temporary edge protection around a stairway, and each post works as a corner or a straight-run post. Hole covers close service openings in a floor slab, in sizes for small and larger holes. Scaffold lights clamp to scaffold tube and flash to mark poles and corners in poor light.

Mortar tubs, rota trolleys and builders buckets

Mortar, plaster and waste move in tubs, trolleys or buckets, depending on the quantity and the route between the mixer and the work.

Mortar tubs

Mortar tubs hold mortar, plaster and concrete for a gang, store materials on a scaffold lift or loading bay, and collect waste for the skip. Sizes run up to 500 litres, and the twin skin tub has a double polymer wall for the heaviest industrial use. Mortar tub liners stop mortar sticking to the sides of the tub and help it hold its moisture for longer. The full range is in the mortar tubs category.

Rota trolleys

Rota trolleys are wheeled polyethylene containers on castors for moving materials and waste across a finished slab or floor, inside a building or on a level where a forklift cannot work.

Builders buckets

Builders buckets are for hand work at the face: carrying mortar to the spot board, water for mixing, or debris out of a room.

Acrow prop sizes and mortar tub lifting

Prop sizes 0 to 4

Adjustable steel props and push-pull props are numbered from size 0 to size 4, with the number rising with height across the five sizes. Measure the clear height from the base to the underside of the load, and choose the size that reaches it with travel to spare, so the prop is not set near full extension.

Handling by hand, forklift or crane

Each tub and attachment is matched to the plant that will lift it. Forklift mortar tubs have fork channels or ridged feet for a forklift or telehandler. Crane lift mortar tubs, and the universal crane lift tub with its galvanised steel frame, hang from a crane hook. The rim lift tub lifts by its rim or sits flat on a pallet, and the top and base lift tub takes either a hook or forks. On a job with a telehandler and no crane, forklift tubs and a fork mounted jib keep every lift on the one machine.