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Our customer service and expertise is the best in the industry. We have extensive knowledge in all facets of scaffolding and can assist you in everything from choosing the right scaffolding to OSHA compliance. We know the scaffolding business inside and out.

We understand that you have a choice when it comes to buying scaffolding. That is why we take the time, with every client, to understand what your exact needs are. Based on your input, we will help you decide what product best meets your requirements and your budget.

We work hard to provide you with the best scaffold prices available even if that means cutting our margins.

We do not sacrifice on quality. We make sure all of our products are of top-notch quality. Our scaffolding frames and accessories are high-grade steel and manufactured to our rigorous specifications. We test our products at Texas A&M to ensure they can handle far beyond even the heaviest loads put on them in the field.

We have a large yard with many items in inventory. We can usually have your order to you in a matter of days, regardless of where you are located.

At Southwest Scaffolding We:

• Deliver across North America and beyond
• Have years of experience with all types of scaffolding. Our sales team can help you decide what scaffolding is best for you.
• Have competitive pricing. Our prices are among the best in the industry so you can buy knowing you didn’t pay too much.
• Provide support if you have any issues or if you need help with your scaffolding.
• Make sure all of our products meet or exceed the legal requirements for scaffolding (OSHA and others).

At Southwest Scaffolding We Sell:

• Conventional Frame Scaffolding including, Safeway Style, Waco Style, Bil-Jax Style, Multipurpose Indoor Scaffolding and other types.
• Scaffolding Accessories
• Non-Stop Heavy Duty Scaffolding.
• Scaffold Boards and Decking
• Mortar Mixers
• Masonry Accessories such as mud tubs and mortar stands

We Rent Scaffolding Non-Stop Scaffolding.

Call us at 972.331.1094 or Contact us today for a consultation or quote.

For Spanish call 214-843-8064 and speak with Joel.

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Solid Aluminum Scaffold Board

Aluminum Scaffold Board

Our aluminum scaffold board comes in three different lengths:

5’X19″ SWS-1106 25 lbs

7’X19″ SWS-1101 30 lbs

10’X19″ SWS-1103 39 lbs

The advantage of these boards is their safety, stability, durability and load bearing capacity. They are rated for 75lbs/sq. ft and can be used in heavy-duty scaffolding applications. They are resistant to corrosion and will last you many years. These boards will also allow you to increase to a 10′ span and still have the load bearing capacity you need. The boards come with replaceable hooks and have a locking mechanism on each end of the board to keep the it attached to the scaffolding frames.

All of our boards have the same width of 19.” It takes aluminum boards to fully deck a set of scaffolding with 5′ wide frames. 42″ wide frames require 2 boards and 3′ wide frame will hold one board. Sometimes aluminum boards are used on outriggers. We have 21″ outriggers that will hold one aluminum board as well as 30″ outriggers that will hold two boards.

Aluminum Scaffold Board For Superior Strength

Aluminum boards have superior strength to wood boards and will last much longer. They make great landing platforms for materials in masonry and stucco applications and we recommend them for scaffolding towers because they stay in place much better than wood boards. The hooks on each end are offset so that these boards can be used to construct a single long scaffolding platform without the hooks overlapping each other.

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Aluminum Board – Bottom View

Aluminum Deck – Side View

Check out other scaffold plank options at SWS:

Solid Sawn Scaffold Boards

Load Limits On Scaffold Boards In Medium Duty Applications

OHSA designates three different categories for load bearing calculations on scaffold boards. They are:

Light Duty – 25 pounds per square foot.
Medium Duty – 50 pounds per square foot.
Heavy Duty – 75 pounds per square foot.

These ratings are based on the intended load, which is calculated by dividing the total weight to be placed between two spans of scaffolding by the total area between the two spans. Most of our customers fall in the medium-duty category so this is what will be addressed in this post. In most masonry applications, 5′ wide frames are spaced 7′ apart and use nominal thickness 2X10 lumber for the planks (nominal thickness 2X10 lumber actually measures 1.5” X 9.25′). In this setup, there is approximately 35 sq. ft. of area between the frames.

If you apply an intended load of 50 pounds per square foot to the 35 square foot platform, a maximum of 1,750 pounds may be applied to the platform. Using full thickness (solid sawn) lumber, this weight is not a problem, however, full thickness lumber is hard to find so most companies use nominal thickness lumber.

OSHA Load Requirements

Scaffolding and scaffold board load requirements are governed by OSHA 1926 Subpart L. OSHA has provided a non-mandatory Appendix A to help contractors comply with the requirements of Subpart L. This appendix contains the following chart:

_______________________________________________
              |                |
  Maximum     |   Maximum      |    Maximum
 intended     | permissible    |  permissible
  nominal     |  span using    |  span using
   load       | full thickness |    nominal
 (lb/ft(2))   |   undressed    |   thickness
              |  lumber (ft)   |  lumber (ft)
______________|________________|_______________
              |                |
25............|           10   |       8
50............|            8   |       6
75............|            6   |
______________|________________|_______________

According to the Appendix, using the typical 7’ span between the frames with the 2X10 nominal thickness lumber will not achieve the 50 pounds/square foot rating in terms of board capacity. The maximum allowable span between the frames with this type of board is 6’. Here is another link to an OSHA workbook with this information: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/scaffolding/planking.html.

Does this create a problem medium-duty contractors using 7′ spans? Not necessarily. Appendix A is a guideline and not mandatory. The mandatory rule is found in OSHA 1926.451(f)(16) and says a scaffold board cannot deflect more than 1/60th of its length when loaded. This means a board on a 7′ span can deflect up to 1.4″ when fully loaded.

Some scaffolding companies, including Southwest Scaffolding, sell boards that are DI-65 #1 pine, which will deflect less that the 1/60th of the span as required by OSHA when under the stress of a medium-duty load. These boards are tested by an independent agency, and stamped. As long at the boards deflect 1.4″ or less when you are working on them, they are OSHA compliant.

OSHA’s deflection limitation makes a good case for using OSHA tested scaffolding board or manufactured boards/platforms instead of 2X10 nominal boards construction grade boards found at most lumberyards. In addition to scaffold grade lumber, Southwest Scaffolding sells both steel and aluminum 7′ and 10′ platforms that are rated for both 50 lbs/sq. ft. and 75 lbs/sq ft. Another solution to the deflection requirement is to double your planks across the spans that will be receiving materials or equipment such as cubes of brick or block. Also, consider that when you are using outriggers, the weight of your workers on the outrigger platforms will not be applied to the main platform.

See our post on load limits on scaffolding frames here.