Any Building Engineers Amongst Us

[d2dave]

I am thinking of purchasing a scissor lift to do maintenance at home as I have a very high ceiling. My floor boards are 32mm pine with 450mm joist spacing. The scissor lift that I am looking at weighs 1500kg.

My concern is, can the floor handle this weight?

Dave.

[dirtdawg]

Have you thought about a couple of tress els and a plank of a no-bolt scaffold on wheels it would be a lot easier on the floor

[hodgo]

Have you thought about a couple of tress els and a plank of a no-bolt scaffold on wheels it would be a lot easier on the floor


X 2

[d2dave]

Yes I have thought about scaffold but I can purchase this scissor lift for not much more. It would also be handy for when I build my shed as it will have a very high roof.

Dave.

[Blknight.aus]

its going to come down to the wheel spacing and point loading....

you may need to use some load distribution plates

[d2dave]

its going to come down to the wheel spacing and point loading....

you may need to use some load distribution plates

This is what I am trying to find out. If I have to do this it defeats the purpose. The idea is to make maintenance simple and easy.

Dave.

[Tombie]

How high is very high?

1500kg isn't very practical to lug around!


"Where the Desert meets the Sea"

[Blknight.aus]

in theory......

you should be good for a distributed 2.5T per square meter BUT I cant find the info for the point load limit for your flooring.

[pop058]

I own a couple of EWPs and while the weight is fairly evenly distributed over the 4 wheels, they do have a very high contact point weight. I would also check the actual weight of your machine as the manufacturers figures are usually quoted dry (eg. without batteries or hydraulic fluid). I presume you are talking about an older machine as you said the purchase cost is not much more than scaffolding. These are usually heavier than the newer models and I would hazzard a guess at 2000kgs at least.

On another note, check the condition/age of the batteries as I recently replaced mine and 4 were on the high side of $1K.

HTH

[d2dave]

I own a couple of EWPs and while the weight is fairly evenly distributed over the 4 wheels, they do have a very high contact point weight. I would also check the actual weight of your machine as the manufacturers figures are usually quoted dry (eg. without batteries or hydraulic fluid). I presume you are talking about an older machine as you said the purchase cost is not much more than scaffolding. These are usually heavier than the newer models and I would hazzard a guess at 2000kgs at least.

On another note, check the condition/age of the batteries as I recently replaced mine and 4 were on the high side of $1K.

HTH

This is what I was looking at.

Snorkel S1930 Scissor Lift | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Snorkel-S1930-Scissor-Lift-/120809877554?pt=AU_Hardware&hash=item1c20d47032)

I rang the hire company that traded it in and they said it is in good nick. The batteries are not that old.

Dave.

[CJT]

You would really need a structural engineer, but personally I would be saying no.

As mentioned depending on the size of the wheels and their contact area you are putting a lot of weight on one concentrated point.

For someone to correctly calculate the bearing capacity of your floor, you would also need the joist and beam sizing, spans and timber grade etc. The whole structure would need to be assessed.

They would also need the scissor lift specifications including the "ground bearing pressure (xxx kg/cm2)".

Just my view though.

[uninformed]

32mm is not very common, are you sure? More importantly, what size are your floor hoisted,what span? Continuous, or single? What size are your bearers and span?

You could have concrete on those joists, but if they are not up to the job it will fail.

[pop058]

Dave,

these little EWPs are probably ideal for what you want. Is the one you (in Victoria) linked the actual one (in NSW) you are looking at ? If so is there anyone that can have a look at it for you and maybe even do a capacity test on the batteries. Other things to look for are wear in the pivots, signs of regular/no maintenace, worn controls (particularly the motion controls), etc.

Not sure about Victoria, but anything "out of inspection" can usually only be used privately and as Tombie said, they are a bit of a buggar to move around. I still think someone with a red stamp (engineer :D) should do some load calculations for your floor at the very least.

good luck.

[clive22]

As everyone says you'll need to do load calcs on the floor, which before you start means everything that been said plus the type of timber and how well seasoned it is. Needs my standards/timber books at work to answer.

What about practical considerations:

Is it pine the wheels will mark the floor, especially if there stones grits in them?

Is this a polished floor the wheels again will damage the polish?

It's a pine floor (grade unknwon)and typically full of knots the load may dislodges the knot?

If it's a tongue & groove floor there is a real possibility that the slender tongue will crack under the high concentrated loads, when re-distributing the wheel load to the adjacent board. This may well mean the floor squeaks every time you walk on it afterwards.

Those EWP's are not meant for bumps: in my experience door sills, etc. edges will stop 'em dead. The ones I've used have out of level trips in them. There meant for shopping centres, etc. with very smooth floors.

Think you'll need, at a min., thick load spreaders, (like what mobile cranes use) on slabs, to save your floor

All pretty negative I know, but can help but think that this may lead to a disappointing result.

Clive

[Beckford]

I am not a building engineer, however I do work as a contract administrator for a building company.

Your best option is an aluminium mobile scaffold.

[Xtreme]

^x2
I hired some of this al. scaffolding recently to do some home maintenance - about 5.5m up - and it was brilliant. Easy to set-up, adjust for different heights, move around (locking wheels) a good size platform (8' x 5') and generally very easy to use.

Cost $133 to hire and I had it for a week, which was a slightly 'discounted' rate as when I returned it I informed them that I had done a bit of maintenance on it for them by lubricating the wheels - took all of a couple of minutes.

Even at the full hire rate, you'd get a lot of usage for the amount you're considering outlaying for the scissor lift, then, as stated, you've got the batteries to maintain.

[Bigbjorn]

My parent's home in Brisbane had 14' ceilings. Dad and I painted the inside once using normal painter's trestles and planks with bits of timber and carpet as load spreaders to save the floors. Dad painted the place himself only the once. Every time afterwards he got the professionals in. Too big, too high, too much work, he reckoned.

[big guy]

Buying the scissor lift is not the big expense, trust me.
Wait till hydraulics or electrics go and have to have parts machined up.

Get a good scaffold, buy it and after a year when no longer needed, sell it for almost what you paid.

Small lifts need perfectly flat surfaces or their inbuilt alarm will lock down any lift.

[d2dave]

My parent's home in Brisbane had 14' ceilings. Dad and I painted the inside once using normal painter's trestles and planks with bits of timber and carpet as load spreaders to save the floors. Dad painted the place himself only the once. Every time afterwards he got the professionals in. Too big, too high, too much work, he reckoned.

My walls are about 16 foot then from there a high pitched cathedral ceiling.

Dave.

[Homestar]

My walls are about 16 foot then from there a high pitched cathedral ceiling.

Dave.


That must be a bitch to heat/cool...:p

The unit shown in the photos have non marking tyres - the white ones, but as already mentioned, debris stuck in the tyres - stones, screws, etc will do your floor some damage.

Scissor & boom lifts are usually the only good buy you will get from a Hire company, as they sell them as they hit thier 10 year inspection - they are usually still in pretty good nick, but it costs more than it's worth to do the inspections. Great for personal use, but you can't hire it out to anyone, not a big deal in your case by the sounds of it.

Also, as mentioned, check the batteries, they are pricey to replace. Good battery maintenance is a must if you don't want to be changing them in a year or so.

If your floor will hold it, I would say go for it - parts for these are pretty easy to get, and don't cost the world. Rams are rebuildable, bushes can also be replaced.

Cheers - Gav

[d2dave]

That must be a bitch to heat/cool...:p

The unit shown in the photos have non marking tyres - the white ones, but as already mentioned, debris stuck in the tyres - stones, screws, etc will do your floor some damage.

Scissor & boom lifts are usually the only good buy you will get from a Hire company, as they sell them as they hit thier 10 year inspection - they are usually still in pretty good nick, but it costs more than it's worth to do the inspections. Great for personal use, but you can't hire it out to anyone, not a big deal in your case by the sounds of it.

Also, as mentioned, check the batteries, they are pricey to replace. Good battery maintenance is a must if you don't want to be changing them in a year or so.

If your floor will hold it, I would say go for it - parts for these are pretty easy to get, and don't cost the world. Rams are rebuildable, bushes can also be replaced.

Cheers - Gav

I spoke to the hire company that traded it in. They said it was in good order, they were hiring it out right up till the 10 year. They also said that the batteries were changed not that long ago. I then spoke to the mob that are selling it, and they reckon that coming from a country town it would not have had the same use that you would expect one from a big city to have.

Dave.