Replacing shutters? Choose the right scaffold.

For replacing shutters the choice lands on the Altrex RS TOWER 51, a mobile scaffold measuring 75 cm across. Leaves nearly always hang on the street side or on a side elevation with a narrow path beside it, and 75 cm is the width that still slips past a planted strip, a gateway or a bicycle rack. That this model runs on to 14.2 metres in the hire fleet says nothing about your own build: for leaves on the first floor you order the range that lands at 6 to 8 metres.

Up on the deck this job asks for more room than paintwork does. The moment the old leaf comes free it has to go somewhere, the replacement is already waiting, and beside those two stand your drill, a box of plugs, a level and a folding rule. A narrow deck copes with that perfectly well, provided you set a leaf on edge against the guard rail instead of laying it flat. Which other models stand ready is set out in the mobile scaffolds we hire out.

Where the job involves large solid timber leaves that two of you take down together, the wider RS52 at 135 cm is worth a look. You gain deck to lay a leaf flat and to work side by side without catching each other's elbows. The drawback shows up when you carry the parts round the back, since they no longer pass a tight gateway. Both widths sit alongside one another in this explanation of scaffold dimensions.

What you measure to when replacing shutters is not the head of the window but the upper pintle that has to go into the wall. It sits a fair way above the frame, and you want to stand square to it with a drill in your hands. Measure from the level where the wheels will come to rest up to precisely that point, and add nothing for a roof edge you never have to reach. That figure is the one you fill in when you reserve.

The sum behind it is short. Your platform height plus about 2 metres of reach is what the trade calls the working height, and that combined figure is what you book. Pick 6 to 8 metres and the deck sits at 4 to 6 metres, which puts the window frame at roughly waist level. That is exactly the stance from which you can hold a leaf steady and still judge whether it hangs true. You will find the matching build set out where a reach of eight metres is explained.

Underestimating punishes you here. Half a metre short means drilling the top holes above your head with your arms out straight, and that is precisely when a masonry bit wanders off into a soft joint. A moment later the same leaf has to go over that upper pin, hands above shoulder height and the full weight hanging on your arms. Hiring generously costs almost nothing; rebuilding costs a morning. For shutters on the first floor of a house this range is enough.

The tower ends up directly beneath the window opening, and on a dwelling that is usually the tightest strip available. Think of a pavement with a cycle rack, a front garden full of climbers, a sill lined with pots, or a drive that falls away towards the road. Before you hire, check that a flat, firm strip remains under every pair of leaves, wider on all sides than the build itself, because the four stabilisers splay outwards at an angle.

A planted border or a layer of loose gravel deserves extra attention. If a wheel sinks, the build stands out of plumb, and holes drilled out of plumb only announce themselves when the new leaf hangs skew. Lay stout boards under the wheels where you must, and check with a level that everything really is square before you make the first hole. Getting a build steady on ground that falls away is covered in the article on anchoring and stabilising.

Set aside somewhere for the leaves themselves as well. The old pair comes down and has to go somewhere, the new pair is waiting and must not sit in the rain or lean against a wall where it can topple. Two trestles in the front garden, or simply a tarpaulin spread out on the drive, will do, as long as it all lies outside the walking route around the base. Then you never have to steer round your own materials with a leaf in your arms.

Unscrewing a pair, measuring up, drilling and adjusting costs half a day per window once the first two are behind you. On an elevation with three or four openings that already comes to two days, and nothing has gone wrong yet. Where old ironwork is seized into weathered brickwork or the holes have broken out, repair work joins the list. So hire the tower per elevation rather than per window, and put your days in the diary back to back.

Inside that period sits waiting time you cannot make up. If old holes have to be filled with mortar or a chemical anchor, the new pintle may only take load once that has gone hard, and how long that takes is down to the product you use. Weather counts as well: drilling dust and a wet wall go together badly, and a leaf with fresh finish is better hung dry. Allow a day of slack in the period you give us.

Taking that slack costs little. You pay the whole day rate once, for the opening twenty four hours, after which each additional day of hire is reduced by 95 per cent, so a spare day barely registers beside the transport. Booking too tight does cost something real: if the van is at the kerb while a leaf still hangs off a single pin, you have a problem. Working out a realistic figure is covered in this piece on counting hire days.

A platform is 245 cm long. On this job that amounts to roughly one window opening with a leaf on either side, plus the room to step past it yourself. Finish a window completely before you move: leaves off, ironwork out, holes made good, new pintles in and the replacement pair hung. Move halfway and you will be lining up all over again, and that is where errors creep in. Three or four separate positions per elevation is entirely normal on this work.

Gather everything you expect to use at ground level, because climbing down while holding a leaf is not something you do twice. Up onto the deck go a drill with a masonry bit, the plugs, the screws, a level, pencil and folding rule, and a small tub for the ironwork you unscrew. A heavy leaf goes up separately on a rope, or you pass it from below to someone already waiting on the platform. Carrying it as you climb is not an option.

What catches people out is the setting out of the old ironwork. The spacing between the pintles of the existing leaf rarely matches exactly what you have bought, and left and right are often not interchangeable. So survey every window separately before the scaffold stands there and write the sizes down. Otherwise you are offering things up at height and measuring while the hire period simply runs on, and that is the dearest place to find out.

Nothing turns up assembled: you receive a counted stack of loose parts at your address. Decide beforehand where that stack may land, because the strip right beneath the windows stays reserved for the leaves themselves. A drive, a piece of lawn or the spot beside the front door works better than the narrow pavement where the build will later stand. Book on a working day, keep it inside the 15:00 cut off, and your parts land the following working day.

Both the arrival day and the date on which everything leaves again are yours to set. When replacing shutters it pays to have the parts brought a day ahead of your first working day: you assemble unhurried, you see straight away whether you have landed at the right height, and only the following morning do you unscrew the first leaf. Building it is your side of the bargain, done with the printed manual open and the instruction film running. Half a day with two of you covers it.

Once the last leaf hangs, you take the build apart and put every part outside complete, so that we can collect it. Count as you dismantle and you spot at once whether a clamp is still lying among the discarded leaves on the drive. Set your collection day one day behind that last leaf and you keep a morning in hand for clearing up. What the outward and return trip costs depends on your province, and the amounts sit with the charges for delivery and collection.

Everything in the hire fleet is built to the EN 1004 standard in load class 3, so each square metre of deck carries 200 kg and no more. Replacing shutters brings you nearer that ceiling than you would guess, because two people, a drill, a tool bag and a solid timber leaf all count together. Send the new leaves up singly rather than the whole set in one trip. See also what load and weight mean on a tower.

Beyond that the standing arrangements apply. Lock the wheel brakes before you climb on, never roll the build a metre sideways with anyone or anything aboard, and set all four stabilisers out afresh after every move. In strong wind you stop earlier on this work than on other facade jobs: a leaf lifted one handed behaves like a sail in the gusts, and you feel that in your wrists before your feet. Waiting is then the only sensible course.

Two risks belong specifically to replacing shutters. The first is falling tools, since you are working with screws, bits and ironwork straight above a pavement where people walk past: rope that zone off and keep small items in a tub. The second is the leaf itself, which you should never manoeuvre over the guard rail single handed, however convenient it looks at that moment. Pass it down, or lower it on the same rope that took it up. The wider arrangements sit at the rules for work at height.