Exterior painting? Choose the right scaffold.

Anyone tackling the outside paintwork all the way round ends up at the RS51: 75 cm narrow and light enough to move on your own. That width decides it here, because the same setup has to go through the gate to the back, past the shed and along the path between wall and boundary. A model that stands well at the front but will not pass round the back forces a second hire period halfway. Which versions stand ready is listed under mobile scaffolds for hire.

On the deck itself you barely miss that extra width when painting. A tin, a brush, a sanding block and a roll of tape are what you need, and those sit comfortably on a deck 245 cm long. The wide 135 cm version only becomes worth considering if two painters share one setup, or if filler, sealant and rot repair kit have to go up alongside the paint. For an ordinary round of frames and doors that is overkill, and the extra weight tells every single time you steer it through the gate.

Working alone and staying under about six metres, the MiTower is an alternative: 75 cm wide, made for one person and handled without help. For a house whose timber runs on up to the roof edge you will not get there, because you need the taller build for that. Torn between the two, look at the one person tower in the fleet, set its reach against your highest frame and count the sills you would still be missing.

On a job all the way round it is not the average that decides your choice but the very highest point still getting paint. That is rarely just a window on the first floor and usually the timber right under the roof edge, or the head of a dormer. For a house with a ground floor and one storey you land on a reach between 4.2 and 8.2 metres. The matching build is set out under eight metres of working height.

Walk all four sides with a tape before you commit, because the surface you stand on lies somewhere different each time. At the back the garden may drop half a metre against the pavement while the front is level. The working height quoted is the platform height plus about two metres you still catch with a stretched arm, so note per elevation how high your deck has to come and then take the highest of those four.

Choose too tight and you find out at the last elevation. The lower windows work, the head of the frame does not, and you stand with a half painted house and a tower that goes no further. Swapping to a taller build at that moment costs more than booking generously from the start, because an extra journey comes with it and you lose a working day mid planning. Working on the first floor as well means the edge above it simply belongs to the job.

Every side of the house sets its own demands on the standing position. On the street side you stand on the pavement or in a parking bay and keep a walkway free for pedestrians. At the side it is usually a drive, where the car has to go while the painting there runs. At the back you land on grass, gravel or a terrace with a fall you cannot see until the spirit level lies on your deck.

Walk those four situations before delivery takes place, and look per side at what the stabilisers need. They project outwards at an angle and ask the same clear space everywhere, including on the path that is only eighty centimetres wide. A falling drive or a sunken slab calls for base plates, and a gully or a grate right under a foot calls for half a metre of shift. Getting such ground level is covered in the piece on uneven ground.

The obstacles differ per elevation too. At the front there is a hedge or a parking space you have to apply for with the council, at the side the meter cupboard and the boundary, at the back a shed roof, a pergola and the washing line. Note per side what has to move and clear it in one go on delivery day, instead of dragging something aside at every reposition. Over ten to fifteen standing positions that saves you hours.

Start by counting rather than guessing. A terraced house asks two to three setups at the front, as many again at the back, and on a corner or detached house it climbs to ten to fifteen positions in total. Per setup you are soon half a day to a full day busy with sanding, filling, priming and finishing. That brings a complete exterior repaint out at seven to fourteen hire days, depending on how much timber there is and how much of it has to come back to bare wood first.

On top of that comes the season. From April into September you have long days and timber that dries out; in March and October you run into morning dew that only lifts around ten, and an afternoon already too cold by four to lay another coat. So reckon with half working days early and late in the year, and put a couple of spare days into your hire period for them. What the cold months mean is set out in this piece on painting in winter.

Over such a long period the shape of the rate weighs heavily. Only the first twenty four hours go at the full amount; each day after that carries 95 per cent off, which brings two weeks close to one. That changes your planning: you no longer chase a run of dry days but leave the tower standing and paint when you can. So book a week too many rather than having to hand the tower back halfway through the fourth elevation.

Per standing position you cover a band of 245 cm, and on an ordinary house exactly one frame with a piece of wall beside it fits into that. Finish the band completely before you roll on: sand, dust, run along the sealant lines, prime where it is bare and only then lay the finish. It is tempting to sand the whole house first and paint the whole house after, but then every operation travels past fifteen spots on its own and you double the repositions.

Keep a fixed order per elevation as well. Work top down, so dust and spatter fall on work not yet treated, and leave the sills until last because that is where most dirt collects. That way you never go back within a band to a place where the paint already stands, and at the next elevation you recognise at once where to start. Doing the frames at the rear in the same visit follows on directly, while you are still in the garden.

Take up per setup what that stretch needs and no more. A tin, a brush, a sanding block, a cloth and the sealant gun is plenty; the rest stays below. Moving is done with an empty deck and the wheels released, never with a half full tin somewhere in a corner. With fifteen standing positions, count on fifteen fresh levellings and reckon those quarter hours honestly into your day. Together that is half a working day.

No erected tower comes driving up, but a set of parts checked for number in advance. Pick a spot beforehand where those parts may lie without being in the way, because on a job of weeks you otherwise walk past them daily. A corner of the drive or a strip along the fence works well. If your order is in before 15:00 on a working day, the set travels out to you the day after.

Which day it comes and which day it leaves is up to you, and with outdoor work you hang that choice on the forecast. Have it delivered on a dry day when you have time to level it, because in the rain putting it up takes twice the effort and the parts stay slippery in your hands. Raising it is your part of the job: reckon on half a day with two people, manual and instruction video within reach. So put no paint on your list for delivery day.

We come for the mobile scaffold on the date you set; you take it apart and lay the parts within reach. Do that at a moment when the last coat feels hard, so you do not scrape tubes along freshly painted timber. Count the parts while dismantling and you know for certain everything goes back complete. Which amount applies in your own province is shown, province by province, in the overview of costs for delivery and collection.

The platforms are made for 200 kg per square metre, marked in EN 1004 as load class 3. With painting you rarely touch that, but do add it up when two people are up there with a tool box, a bucket of water and a couple of tins. Spread such things across the deck rather than parking them in one corner, and keep the way to the hatch clear. What the standard covers is explained in the piece on this scaffold standard.

Round a house the wind changes per side. At the front elevation you stand out of it and at the side you catch everything funnelling between the houses; that is precisely where you stop sooner than you would like. Brake the wheels before going up, let nobody stand on the deck while you reposition, and set all four stabilisers properly again after every move. With a storm forecast the loose items come off the deck and the tin goes down the ladder with you.

Two things belong specifically to painting outside. In the morning the deck is wet with dew and therefore slippery, exactly when you want to go up with a full tin; run a cloth over the rungs first. And on the street side people walk underneath you, so put out a barrier or a few cones and never lay tools loose on the edge. Warn the household as well, since the postman will otherwise walk straight under you. More rules are at working safely at height.