Painting: Will you need scaffolding?

Painting is certainly a home maintenance or renovation job that can be done by any home owner with time and patience. But some jobs require accessing heights, and traditionally simply climbing a ladder was the approach to this problem. However, safety is now a primary concern in the completion of any type of building and construction work, including painting, and scaffolding is far safer than a ladder in certain situations.

Painting: When do you need scaffolding?

While you may be intending to simply prop a ladder against the wall and paint, you may actually find that scaffolding is easier and definitely safer for painting your house.

• Use scaffolding instead of a ladder for painting ceilings
• Scaffolding is more appropriate for sloping ground, as a ladder is definitely dangerous there
• Balconies are most safely accessed for painting by using scaffolding
• Most exterior painting jobs requiring you to access heights are more safety completed on scaffolding

Consider simply hiring scaffolding for all of your house painting. It is safer, easier and chances are you'll do a better paint job from the stable platform of scaffolding.

Scaffolding for painting

Scaffolding is the better choice for painting jobs that require you to access heights, but there are some important considerations to ensure that you use scaffolding safely also:

• Free standing scaffolding, which is most appropriate for home painting, should be fixed to firm footings
• Scaffolding should also be tied for greatest security, including tying boards to scaffolding
• Scaffolding with toe boards and handrails is the only safe type for home use
• Hire scaffolding from a reputable business that keeps it in excellent condition

If you do use a ladder, take appropriate precautions to ensure your safety. Never go higher than the highest step indicated on the ladder, use the appropriate size ladder, set it only on flat, stable ground, and only rest ladders against solid surfaces; never, for instance, guttering. Also ensure that there are no sharp or protruding objects on the ground to fall on if you do fall.

Will you need scaffolding for painting?

Hiring scaffolding 'just' to paint your home may seem a little unnecessary, but the cost is relatively minimal, scaffolding is easy to use, and you may find that you save time and effort on painting high areas as a result of having the stable scaffolding platform. Ladders have caused so many injuries as a result of falls that their use in schools and other government buildings has been limited to those who have had training in doing so safely. Consider scaffolding as an easier and more effective way of completing the painting in the high areas of your home.