Work Platform for Guttering

[nomad97]

I have had a full day today making a work platform that will allow me to repair the guttering on my house. I did not fancy the idea of being 2 meters up on a ladder trying to repair the fascia boards before fitting new guttering. That would be tempting providence too much. However, a work platform, secured by clamps to the garden wall, should provide a safe and stable work deck to get at the fascia boards and guttering. Given the finished weight of the platform, I have fitted wheels to allow the platform to be easily repositioned. Access to the working deck height is via step ladders.

The materials:



The nearly finished platform:

 

[Coffee]

Good luck. Make sure the wheels are "chocked" prior to mounting that platform.

(Shit happens with age, even in the bath.)

 

[Yorky]

Andychondriac has a scaffold tower (two lifts) which I have for many months threatened to borrow and never got around to it. I have no idea if it would fit in that gap though.

 

[mario299]

@ Nomad: you shoulda called.
I've got 30+ years experience in scaffolding and gutters and fascia. Although I am impressed with your end-result of a platform, all you really needed for this was 2 step-ladders and a plank (walk board).
Yours is impressive though...

 

[nomad97]

Good luck. Make sure the wheels are "chocked" prior to mounting that platform.

(Shit happens with age, even in the bath.)

Thank you for your concern but I will not be chocking the wheels. I did say the platform would be clamped to the garden wall for stability. I will have 2 clamps like this:



This platform will not be moving anywhere.

 

[Prakhonchai Nick]

I will invariably tackle all household jobs myself, but when the preparation conceivably takes longer than the job itself, I would be inclined to pay someone to do it for me. Perhaps easier here in my village when 3/400bt/day will get the job done.

 

[nomad97]

@ Nomad: you shoulda called.
I've got 30+ years experience in scaffolding and gutters and fascia. Although I am impressed with your end-result of a platform, all you really needed for this was 2 step-ladders and a plank (walk board).
Yours is impressive though...

If I come across a problem I know who to ask for help. At 73 years young in a couple of weeks time, I felt this was a safer option than two step ladders and an adjoining plank. Out of interest, the total cost for materials; timber, wheels, and screws was 2,500 baht (ish). What I have not said so far is, once this project is finished, all of the timber will be recycled to make a garden shelter for the new BBQ area. The new shelter will look something like this:



The 4 wheels may be surplus to requirements but I am sure all the timber will be put to good use.

 

[nomad97]

I will invariably tackle all household jobs myself, but when the preparation conceivably takes longer than the job itself, I would be inclined to pay someone to do it for me. Perhaps easier here in my village when 3/400bt/day will get the job done.

Living in the town, finding good workmen who are prepared to work is very difficult. And, if you can find someone, once they know you are a farang, they want to charge an arm and a leg for the simplest of jobs. One of them wanted 5,000 baht to clear my front garden, a cheeky chap. A year or so ago, I had to pay 2,000 baht for 4 men to fell a tree out the back. They also expected me to go and buy the benzine for their chain saw to do the job. I drew the line at that and told them quite bluntly to buy their own benzine. Since then, I have bought my own chain saw and I have cut my own trees. I reckon the cost of the saw paid for itself in the first year of use.

 

[nomad97]

Andychondriac has a scaffold tower (two lifts) which I have for many months threatened to borrow and never got around to it. I have no idea if it would fit in that gap though.

I did consider a scaffold tower but the narrow 85 cm gap was the problem.

 

[Yorky]

My next door neighbour is a bit of an odd jobs man in the village. He did many odd jobs for me or assisted me in doing them. ฿200.00 was roughly what I used to give him for a few hours and he didn't ask for more. However, when the government stipulated the minimum wage, he wouldn't consider any amount less than ฿500.00. Suddenly he was unemployed.

I now have a few decent folks who are prepared to work for a reasonable amount including my electrician, gardener (e.g. ฿500.00 for the back field grass cutting) and odd job man (e.g. ฿250.00 to clear all my gutters). However, I would never even consider paying anyone to chop down trees. They'll cut them for nothing for the charcoal to distill their Lao Khow.

 

[mario299]

If I come across a problem I know who to ask for help. At 73 years young in a couple of weeks time, I felt this was a safer option than two step ladders and an adjoining plank. Out of interest, the total cost for materials; timber, wheels, and screws was 2,500 baht (ish). What I have not said so far is, once this project is finished, all of the timber will be recycled to make a garden shelter for the new BBQ area. The new shelter will look something like this:

View attachment 37609

The 4 wheels may be surplus to requirements but I am sure all the timber will be put to good use.

I wasn't trying to say you did wrong, only offering experienced advice. I am one year younger than you, and neither of us got to this stage in life by being stupid. Do what you like, none of it pertains to what I do anyway.

 

[Yorky]

Living in the town, finding good workmen who are prepared to work is very difficult. And, if you can find someone, once they know you are a farang, they want to charge an arm and a leg for the simplest of jobs. One of them wanted 5,000 baht to clear my front garden, a cheeky chap. A year or so ago, I had to pay 2,000 baht for 4 men to fell a tree out the back. They also expected me to go and buy the benzine for their chain saw to do the job. I drew the line at that and told them quite bluntly to buy their own benzine. Since then, I have bought my own chain saw and I have cut my own trees. I reckon the cost of the saw paid for itself in the first year of use.

How many trees are you cutting down? Did you have a rain forrest there?

 

[nomad97]

How many trees are you cutting down? Did you have a rain forrest there?

Yes, my wife is very good at cultivating rain forests. We have 3 mango trees and 1 lemon tree that need pruning each year. Not to mention a number of saplings over the other side of the back wall that need cutting back each year.