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Stage, Rigging and Catwalk Access A theater is a construction site wrapped around a finished floor. The fly loft is thirty to sixty feet, the catwalk runs above the seats, and every ladder that comes in has to protect a stage deck that costs more per square foot than most houses. Catwalks and Lighting Positions Catwalk work is overhead at twenty to forty feet, and the access is usually a fixed ladder or a stair tower rather than a portable one. What a crew brings is the ladder for the positions …

Chimney, Flue and Fireplace Work The older neighborhoods in Dallas, from Swiss Avenue to Lakewood to Munger Place, are full of tall masonry chimneys on steep roofs. A chimney sweep or mason working those houses needs roof access that does not damage the shingles and a way to work the stack itself. Getting to the Roof Without Damaging the Shingles A ladder laid straight against a gutter crushes it and puts the feet on a surface that gives. A standoff or a walk-through top section spreads the loa …

Ladders at Water and Wastewater Plants A water or wastewater plant is a wet concrete campus with chemical rooms, clarifier walls and basin railings, and almost every ladder on site is fiberglass for a reason. Aluminum conducts, corrodes and gets condemned after a few years of washdown. Why Fiberglass, Not Aluminum Plant work mixes water, chlorine, caustic, polymer and electrical equipment in the same buildings. Aluminum is a conductor, and even where the work is not electrical, washdown water c …

Working Above Parking Garage Decks A parking structure is a stack of low ceilings with open edges. Between the slab above and the deck below there are seven to eight feet of clear height, the lighting and conduit live up there, and the parapet at the edge is the only thing between a tech and a two story drop. Seven Feet of Clearance The clear height between decks is the constraint that decides everything. A frame scaffold will not fit standing up, and most stepladders cannot be opened under a s …

Ladders and Scaffolds for Fence Contractors Fence work looks like ground work until the top rail goes on. Six and eight foot privacy fences are built from both faces, the outside face usually belongs to a neighbor, and the last two feet of a picket run is the part that hurts people. Privacy Fence Height and the Right Stepladder A six foot privacy fence puts the top rail at six feet and the picket tips at six and a half. That is exactly the height where an ordinary five foot stepladder stops bei …