demolition scaffold

maumel97 said:
Have you read TG20:08. Read what it says about sheeted scaffolds and increased ties. I cant believe that people think that protection on demo jobs is okay with mono down the outside. Did you not know that wind blow through debris netting. Protection from paint chippings. I've heard it all now. My old woman keeps telling me its time i retired after 40 year. I make her right. I am not only an "Advanced Scaffold Inspector" i am also a foreman scaffolder, supervisor etc. And i've worked for some of the biggest firms in London.:amazed:
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I cannot believe I am having this conversation.

Wind load's aside for a moment, considering that the majority of demolition scaffolds have either 2 or 3 lifts boarded, how are you supposed to join monarflex together through a lift if fixed to the inside face of the scaffold?

Secondly, monarflex ties are designed to break away when exposed to a certain amount of force. That's why it is important that the user only uses the manafacturers ties. It is also important that the sheeting is fixed to the outer face of the scaffold to allow to sheeting to 'escape' before the scaffold was exposed to high wind loads that it may not be able to cope with. This, like anything else, could be considered and designed out - but an enginer would have to treat monarflex fixed to the inside face of the scaffold as nothing less than 'solid'.

Thirdly, the assumtion that wind just flows through debris netting is absolute b0ll0cks. A scaffold sheeted with debris netting inceases the wind load on the scaffold to about 60% of that of monarflex - ie. a major increase on an un-sheeted scaffold. If in doubt, check with an engineer. Did you check the design for the scaffold that you 'inspected' in London the other day?

Lastly, I have a little bit of experience myself, including some enormous demolition jobs in London and I can honestly say that I have never, ever seen a demolition scaffold in London that was not sheeted externally with either monarflex or powerclad sheeting. If I saw a demolition scaffold that was sheeted with debris netting, I certainly wouldn't stand anywhere near it....

Happy retirement.
 
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Phil,Can you explain how monarflex is less wind resistant than debris netting. Cant get my head round that one. as posted earlier debris netting has holes in it. Genuine question.
 
frederik said:
Phil,Can you explain how monarflex is less wind resistant than debris netting. Cant get my head round that one. as posted earlier debris netting has holes in it. Genuine question.
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To be honest mate I cannot explain the physics behind it. Obviously debris netting is not a 'solid' material - so some wind can penetrate the sheeting. 'Air flow' monarflex also has small holes in it but only reduces the wind-load, it doesn't negate it.

Believe it or not, brickguards will also increase the wind-load on a scaffold, but obviously less still as the holes are much larger.

I only know all of this stuff because I spend many hours chatting to our extremely annoying, extremely intelligent engineer, who takes great delight in telling me all of this stuff - which obviously costs us time and money to impliment and consider.

If sheeting our scaffolds with debris netting had no effect on the integrity of our scaffolds then we would obviously not consider it, but it does - so we do...
 
frederik said:
Phil,Can you explain how monarflex is less wind resistant than debris netting. Cant get my head round that one. as posted earlier debris netting has holes in it. Genuine question.
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Sorry mate I think I mis-read your question.

What I meant was debris netting was 60% of the load of monarflex. Not 60% more.

So if monarflex increased the load by 10. Then debris netting would increase the load by 6.

Does that make sense?
 
Still a bit confused here Phil;Is 10 not more than 6, how does the table work. Who said scaffolding aint rocket science?
 
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