Masonry Magazine April 1979 Page. 25
MONEY-SAVING IDEAS FOR MASON CONTRACTORS
By Spreading Weight, Builder Erects 90-foot Scaffolding on Roof
The Problem
Hasslen Construction Co., Ortonville, Minn., faced the tall problem of scaffolding a highrise addition to an existing one-story office building for Milbank Mutual Insurance Co., headquartered at Milbank, S.D.
The Solution
The problem was solved by using Morgen Tower Scaffolding and a Morgen accessory called a foundation tower support.
The device consists of a tubular steel member with a bracket that fits over the lip of the foundation at one end and a leveling screw at the other. It supports the planks on which the towers are erected.
The simple but effective accessory was designed to prevent the scaffolding from settling on fill next to the foundation, at much less cost than building and leveling a mud sill.
Hasslen used the foundation tower support on the roof of the completed building, using planks under the leveling screws to spread the weight. "There's no way we could have done the job without those supports," says Bill Felton, job superintendent.
The Morgen foundation tower support, designed to prevent the scaffolding from settling on fill next to the foundation, has a bracket that fits over the foundation at one end and a leveling screw at the other. Cheaper than the cost of building and leveling a mud sill under the towers, it requires leveling only from the building out, not down the line, because the foundation is already level.
"They kept the load on the roof low enough per square foot to allow placing the scaffold on it."
Crane Raises Towers
Hasslen assembled pairs of towers up to 45 feet high on the ground and then raised them with the tower crane that was on the job for steel erection.
The crane was also used to move pairs of towers from completed walls to new walls.
Hasslen figures that the scaffolding and their method of handling it by crane put them three weeks ahead of schedule on a job that would have taken four months with conventional scaffolding.
MASONRY/APRIL, 1979 25