Removing ivy? Choose the right scaffold.

Taking ivy off produces a heap of material on your deck immediately, and that is what the Altrex RS TOWER 52 is built for: a wide mobile scaffold with 135 cm between the rails. Beside you stand a bucket for the pulled off runners, a wire brush, a scraper and a bag for the rest. On a narrow deck you knock that bucket over the moment you turn round. Which versions are otherwise standing ready is on the page with mobile scaffolds you can hire from us.

There is a second reason to choose wide. The work goes in two rounds: first you pull the plant loose and throw it down, then you stand with a brush getting the leftover rootlets off the stone. In that second round you want to be close to the wall and able to push hard. On a 135 cm deck you plant your feet apart and keep your balance; on 75 cm you are soon leaning on the rail.

Deck length is 245 cm on every model, so with the RS52 you gain width alone. If that 135 cm will not go through the gate to the back garden, you end up with the narrow RS51 and work in smaller portions. If you are not taking the plant away but cutting it back, look at pruning a climbing plant instead: there the plant stays and the pitch is different. That saves you both working height and rental days.

Ivy does not stop at a gutter. The runners creep under the tiles, over the ridge and up along the chimney, and those very shoots have to go, or the plant is back on the wall next year. So your highest point sits above the gutter. Over three storeys you end up renting 8 to 12 metres of reach, with the deck landing between 6 and 10 metres, because above the platform height you still count roughly 2 metres of reach.

Where does your measurement start? Not at the foot of the plant, but at the place the wheels will end up. Ivy often roots in a border while the pitch lands on the path beside it, and that is half a metre gone. If the garden falls away towards the fence, measure at the lowest point of your run. And if there is growth on a dormer or against the chimney, add those metres before you pick a build. Which parts belong to that is under the build for twelve metres working height.

Renting too tight hits you harder on a removal job. Leave the top metre because you cannot quite reach it, and a piece of plant with roots stays there and within two seasons the wall is green again. That last stretch is also exactly the part running under the tiles. So book on the highest point you still mean to tackle and not on the gutter height; one extra section costs you less than a second rental period next year.

Before the tower arrives, cut a strip of ivy away from ground level across the full width of your first pitch. Then the frame can go against the wall instead of half a metre off it, and that saves you reaching all day. On a pruning job you cannot do that, because the plant has to stay; on a removal everything may go and it works in your favour. Allow an hour with shears and a bucket before the first tube goes up.

The ground along an overgrown wall is rarely as tidy as it looks. Under the ivy there is often a band of soil, a sunken slab or an old plinth, and that is where the stabilisers land as they angle outwards. Where the ground is soft, a plate goes under every foot. Look too at what is hidden behind the green: a downpipe, a gas tap, a lighting cable or an old lightning conductor. You want to have seen those before you start hauling on a runner.

Point out a fixed place for the greenery to go as well. On a removal more material comes down in a day than a garden bin holds in a month, so have a skip or a trailer standing and keep the route to it clear. Do not let that heap grow on your running path, or you can no longer shift the tower. If the path is uneven or half sunken, look at the approach on uneven ground.

Removing takes more rental days than pruning, and that is down to the second round. Pulling a bay loose goes quickly, but after it you stand for an hour or more per pitch brushing the aerial rootlets off the stone. For a densely covered elevation of three storeys you are soon at three to five rental days. If the ivy is decades old and the stems are thicker than your thumb, count on the top of that range.

The waiting here sits in the disposal and in the weather. You do not leave a full skip standing halfway, so match the exchange to your working days. And you do not brush a wet wall clean: the dirt smears and the deck turns slippery. If pointing or paintwork follows the removal, the stone has to dry for days first. Not all of that has to fall in the same rental period, but you want to know it beforehand.

Booking generously is almost free here. Only the first period of 24 hours is charged in full; everything you stick behind it carries 95 per cent off. So a job you estimate at three days you book at five without a qualm, because ivy nearly always disappoints. You can still bring your collection date forward if you finish sooner than expected. What the rental price for this build works out at is on the page with all the rates.

Per pitch you work a bay of 245 cm, and with ivy you start at the top. Cut the thick stems through at the base first if you have not already, but up there only pull loose once you have looked at where the weight hangs. An old mat of ivy sometimes comes away in one sheet, and that is more mass than you expect. Work in pieces you can hold in one hand and lower them under control instead of throwing them.

Shifting always costs clearing time first on this job. After a bay there is a thick layer of runners underneath you, and you do not roll a tower over that without it running off line or a wheel jamming. Rake the bay clean, check that nothing is wound round the legs or the stabilisers, and only then move on. Put the brakes back on and spread the feet again before anybody climbs. Those five minutes come back twice over.

What everybody underestimates is the wall that appears. Under an old mat of ivy sit open joints, flaking paint, weathered render and sometimes a crack that has been hidden for years. On top of that the aerial rootlets stay behind as grey dots; a brush takes most of them off, but not all and not fast. Count that cleaning round into your rental days and look straight away from the scaffold at what repair work on the wall is needed before you dismantle.

The set arrives complete and counted, in loose parts that have to lie somewhere. Pick a place outside your working zone for that: the drive, the pavement or a corner of the terrace. Above all do not lay the stack where the pulled off growth will land, or you will be tugging tubes out from under the runners. Order on a weekday and finish before 15:00; the van then brings the set round the following working day.

Which day it comes and which day it goes are down to you, and with ivy you let the calendar weigh in. You strip a wall outside the bird nesting season, which puts you in late autumn or the very start of spring, because a dense mat holds nests. Building is yours to do; we only bring and fetch. With two of you and the manual and its video beside you, a build to twelve metres stands in roughly an hour and a half. Set that time aside in your planning.

For bringing and fetching together there is one fixed amount per province, including VAT; look up your region on the page with the delivery charges. You may also collect the set yourself: free, provided you make an appointment first, at Zeeburgerpad in Amsterdam, though a build to twelve metres does ask for a substantial trailer. Afterwards we take the parts away again. Make sure they are dismantled and stacked somewhere that has not vanished under a heap of ivy.

The deck carries 200 kg on every square metre; that is the load class 3 which EN 1004 prescribes here. On a removal you fill that faster than you think, because wet runners with soil on them weigh a lot and there are usually two people up top. So do not leave full bags standing on the platform, but lower them on a rope straight away. How that class works out in practice is in the explanation of loading and weight.

The usual rules hold here with no exceptions. Put the wheels on the brake the moment somebody climbs, never roll the pitch with a person or with bags on it, and stop in a hard wind. That limit sits lower on an overgrown wall, because a loosened mat of leaves acts as a sail and tugs you sideways. Check the four feet at every new pitch and see that nothing is wrapped around them. That saves you a pitch that snags halfway.

What can genuinely go wrong on this job is the force you put in. You are up high pulling at a plant that is holding on, and when it lets go all at once you shoot backwards into the rail. So never pull with straight arms and use a scraper rather than your body weight. Reckon on dust, spiders and old nests coming out of the mat: wear gloves, goggles and a mask. Keep the ground below clear as well. The rules are in the overview of safety rules at height.