Working at Height in Self-Storage Buildings

Working at Height in Self-Storage Buildings

Self-storage maintenance is a long list of small jobs at two very different heights: unit ceilings at eight or nine feet, and exterior walls, canopies and signs at twenty feet and up. The building also decides the tools, because a four foot aisle does not accept a frame scaffold.

The Aisle Width Problem

Interior aisles in a climate controlled building run four to five feet wide, which rules out almost every frame scaffold and most stepladders set sideways. What fits is a rolling tower built on a narrow footprint, or a platform ladder carried in flat.

Our rolling steel scaffold tower at $849 for the 5 foot 8 inch frame rolls down a five foot aisle, locks, and puts a maintenance tech at ceiling height with both hands free for a light fixture or a sensor.

That tower is also the fastest way to reach a hallway camera or a smoke detector without dragging a stepladder and a spotter through the building.

Roll-Up Doors and Tension Springs

Unit doors are the most common repair in the industry, and the work is at seven feet with a spring under load. A stepladder is fine for the track bolts and dangerous for the spring.

Our Pinnacle platform ladder at $357.67 in the 8 foot platform size lets a tech stand beside the door head instead of leaning into it, which matters when a spring lets go.

Never stand on the top cap of a stepladder to reach a door head. The platform ladder exists precisely so that reach does not require it.

Hallway Lighting, Cameras and Sensors

Lighting retrofits in a storage building are usually a two-person job: one on the ladder and one at the panel. A platform ladder with a tool tray keeps the second pair of hands from being a bucket on the floor.

For long hallways, the rolling tower moves in one piece and saves a climb-down at every fixture.

Exterior Drive-Up Units and Canopies

Drive-up buildings have eight foot doors and a canopy or parapet above, which puts the exterior work at twelve to twenty feet. A fiberglass extension ladder with a standoff is the right tool for the parapet, and a Baker unit does the soffit work.

Our Baker scaffold unit at $229 with locking casters at $21.50 each rolls along the building face for soffit, fascia and gutter work.

Seasonal Work and the Rest of the List

Beyond doors and lights, a storage property runs a seasonal list: gutter cleaning before spring storms, HVAC filter changes on the roof curbs, gate and keypad repairs at the entry, and pest control around the exterior units.

Roof curb work is the one item that needs a real ladder rather than a platform, and a fiberglass extension ladder keeps a tech off the metal panel edges that cut a shin every summer.

Gate and keypad work happens at five feet and a step stool does it, which is why most facility trucks end up carrying a stool, a platform ladder and an extension ladder and nothing else.

Outfitting a Facility Crew

Most storage facilities settle on one rolling tower, one platform ladder, one extension ladder and a Baker unit, kept on site rather than hauled between buildings.

Tell us the aisle width and the tallest exterior work and we will size it.

Everything ships from 5030 Dexham Rd. Ste. 103 in Rowlett, TX, and local crews can pick up the same day. Call 972-331-1090 and we will tell you what is on the floor right now.