Blog Archives
We’re Moving – (our blog)
Hello all! The big day is here and we’re transferring our blog to our self hosted website – so hold on to your hats…It’s going to be fun and exciting and barely noticeable to you. Ha.
I’m telling you this because when we move our email subscribers will continue to receive email notifications as before but WordPress.com followers will only see new posts in the reader – you will not receive email updates UNLESS you subscribe to receive those on our new site. Make sense?
So, to recap. We are moving our blog to our new website so be sure to check us out there.
Easy. And as always, we are extremely thankful that you follow along with our scaffold travels.
We are thinking about keeping this blog alive for the fun adventures of Superior Scaffold. But until then we hope to see you over at the NEW SITE!!!!
Thank and have a wonderful day!
Superior Scaffold
http://www.superiorscaffold.com
(215) 743-2200
SWING, SWING, SWING, at The Sterling House, 18th & JFK (pt. 3)
As Louis Prima once sang, “Swing, swing, swing” – oh wait, close… “Sing, Sing, Sing – (with a swing)”.
But that’s just what Superior Scaffold did on the third phase of this project (See part 1 – and part 2) – Swing, Swing, Swing.
The Sterling Apartments is a unique building at the corner of JFK blvd and 18th in downtown Philly. Superior had 2 36’ foot straight platforms on the front and sides of this building so crews could polish the metal on the facade. Very cool.
Here you can see crews working directly from the suspended scaffolding.
The second part of the swing scaffolding on this job came in the back of the building where they are demoing the old weight room and expanding on the 30th floor. Superior provided 2 corner rigs so crews could work on the outside of the building at the top.
Most people actually associate “Sing, Sing, Sing” with Benny Goodman’s famous instrumental classic but it was really Luigi (Louis) Prima who wrote and first performed the song in 1936. I’ve included both versions her so take a listen and you chose which one you prefer.
And just for grins – here are the lyrics in case you want to belt it out!
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Everybody start to sing
La dee da, ho, ho, ho
Now you’re singing with a swing
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Everybody start to sing
La dee da, ho, ho, ho
Now you’re singing with a swing
And when the music goes around
Everybody goes to town
But here’s something you should know
Ho ho baby ho ho ho
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Everybody start to sing
La dee da, ho, ho, ho
Now you’re singing with a swing
And when the music goes around
Everybody goes to town
But here’s something you should know
Ho ho baby ho ho ho
Sing, sing, sing, sing
Everybody start to sing
La dee da, ho, ho, ho
Now you’re singing with a swing
And as always, if you need to Swing, Swing, Swing around your jobsite or building – call Superior Scaffold at (215)743-2200 or visit http://www.superiorscaffold.com!
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The Sterling House (part 2) – “Can’t you hear me knocking?”
We showed you the brilliant landing platform on the 30th floor of the Sterling House Apartments (18th & JFK) in our previous blog. See it here: It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a crane landing platform? (part 1) and I promised to bring you the second part. So here it is…
Overhead sidewalk protection all around this building.
It’s a multipurpose overhead protection system (as you will see in the following pics) not only did it have to provide protection for the pedestrians around this busy apartment building but it also had to provide support for our swing staging all around the facade. If you look to the right on the photo below you will see the tops of the motors peeking out above the panels.
And to do this – Superior Scaffold deployed the heavy duty 767 Philly canopy frames with steel beams on top.
One of the biggest challenges was to create a canopy over the entryway to the Sterling House down over the sidewalk. It was quite a distance and at several elevations. To bridge the gap Superior incorporated a series of system scaffold pieces into the overall design to create the perfect overhead sidewalk protecton for the client. It’s almost like 2 separate canopies but you can see in the pic below how the one actually rests on top of the other.
This was a creative scaffolding solution to this problem.
And I wanted to point out our two latest safety features. You might have already noticed the long yellow banners attached to the legs of the frame scaffold in the photos. These say “warning tripping hazard” and are in response to the number of people walking the streets while staring down at their cell phones.
And the second safety change we’ve made recently comes at the bottom of the frame jack where the plate meets the concrete. We now cut off the sides of the wood to fit the size of the jack plate completely – no more overhanging area for people to get caught up on while they walk and text and surf the web. We are always looking for ways to make our scaffolding safer to the general public. We will be constantly updating and improving as new insights become available.
Save some brain power for the Sterling House Pt 3 (“Swing, Swing, Swing”) coming real soon!
Call Superior Scaffold today at (215) 743-2200 for all of your scaffold, scaffolding needs.
#scaffold#scaffolding#rental#rent#superiorscaffold#restoration#inspection#contstruction#facade
#masonry#canopy#protection#howto#erection#install#emergencyservices#masonry#suspendedscaffold
#mastclimber#canopy#philly#philadelphia#pa#electrical#2157432200#pa#de#nj#ny#md#rents
#sales#design#erection#dismantle#deliver#swingstaging#swings#stages#shoring#USA
#nationwide#national
How to add floors to an existing building – high exposure cantilever scaffold
This is amazing to me. How do you add 3 floors to an already existing building? You probably haven’t thought about that before. I know that I hadn’t but the people at Superior Scaffold have many times. In downtown areas space is a valuable commodity so sometimes the only place to expand is up.
But this leaves a myriad of challenges. The biggest one being how do we do all of the necessary heavy work outside of the building that needs to be done? Well, by creating working space outside of the area being built.
And in this case at the Parc Rittenhouse – there needed to be enough room and support to handle all of the weight for construction materials and the guys laying the bricks, facade and masonry work on the new addition.
Check out how Superior Scaffold engineers solved the problem. It wasn’t from scaffolding from the ground up (impossible on this job – the lower roof wouldn’t support it) but from beneath the floors that were being added onto. They used a high exposure cantilever scaffold system with giant weight supporting aluminum beams. Check out the photos!
These huge beams are levered inside the floors below and stick out the windows. They are then counter-balanced with another set of aluminum beams up against the ceiling joists to hold the weight outside of the building. The ceiling beams are shored up and the system is balanced.
It’s a crazy system but makes total sense. Let the existing building take the weight and leverage to support anything outside on the beams. See the photos.
In some cases, like on the corners, crews had to actually cut holes into the brick to stick out the aluminum beams. And then, they would deck them and add scaffolding.
Then, the crews deck it and put any scaffolding onto it to get up the next level. I don’t know the weight ratio of what it can hold (I’ll have to ask the engineers and get back to you) but it’s a tremendous amount.
Superior then erected a 45′ high systems scaffold to allow worker access to each of the floors as they were constructed. They also added several man material hoists to get building materials and equipment up to the top. There are suspended scaffolds on the job too helping install the new balconies.
Superior also had to install overhead protection all of the way around the building. This was quite an extensive job.
The building exterior also underwent a makeover bringing it back to its former glory of almost ¾ a century ago.
Here are a few (never before seen) shots of what the additional floors and subsequent penthouses looked like in their finishing stage. If you look carefully, you can still see some of the cantilever beams sticking out through the brick.
All in all, this is a very cool way to add additional floors to an already existing structure. Superior scaffold has done this many times and are experts at it – so don’t try this at home. Give them a call at (215) 743-2200 or visit them at www.superiorscaffold.com today.
So say it with me, 3 times really fast.
High exposure cantilever scaffold system
High exposure cantilever scaffold system
High exposure cantilever scaffold system
The Parc Rittenhouse is at 225 South 18th Street, Philadelphia, PA
Superior Scaffold hangs a whopper of a job at Seneca Niagara Casino, Niagara Falls, NY
This is a monstor of a job. We promised some photos and since we, at Superior Scaffold, keep our promises – here they are.
It’s hard to believe that this all hangs 40 feet ABOVE the entire gaming room floor while people are hustling and bustling about underneath.
They sit above the interior that is the size of 2 full length football fields.
These wings or fingers are 300 and 400 feet long!
What this project entails is getting crews up underneath the ceiling while the casino remains open for business as usual so they can get the new HVAC and mechanicals installed.
The solution came in the form of what is called a multi-point suspended scaffold. It’s not only wide, but stable enough to hold equipment, rolling towers, HVAC piping, etc.
These giant work platforms actually hang from chains from the arched trusses at the ceiling. It’s netted in so nothing can fall off of the sides and its sturdy enough to support just about anything you can put onto it.
We’ve done these before (see blog on Hanging bridge platform) but never at this scale.
The ceiling has giant arches which of course curve and give different elevations along that curve. So the challenge for our crews was to get the lengths of chains correct over the entire spans of this platform while they were assembling them to keep the platform perfectly level.
The segments had to hang at different elevations from the trusses to accommodate the particular ducting and venting going on up there. Some lengths would be 20 feet while others would be 10 and so forth. But once our guys go the proper lengths in place the platform was installed, level and sturdy.
Here is a video so you can see in real time what these platforms look like.
There aren’t many comapanies that can or will undertake an immense job like this. Our star estimator, Anthony Pini, made it his personal mission to come up with solutions to solve this engineering problem – and his team succeeded without incident.
The new HVAC and mechanicals are installed and everyone at the Seneca Niagara Casini can literally breathe easier!
Call Superior Scaffold today at (215) 743-2200 for solutions to your unique scaffolding project. Ask for Tom Cruise, AKA Tony Pini.
How to have a positive experience with a setback – Porch brackets at 1900 Rittenhouse, Philadelphia
It’s time to pay tribute to the outsiders in our company. Yes, it’s the swing department. In fact, I hate to admit this but they came up with that very clever headline. I wish I could take credit for it but I can’t.
Is our swing department the “bad boys” of the company? You tell me? In their spare time all they do is race cars (fast cars) build hot rods, snowmobile through the frozen tundra (very fast) talk about driving fast, and taking chances. Have you detected a theme here? All except for the one VW building hippy who just likes to putter around at 50 brake horsepower thinking he’s going really fast… But then again, he’s got the pop-up camper lid and big screen TV in case he wants to take a nap. He’s the exception. (Also the one who came up with the headline – not to name names) He actually said, “Some might think that in this day and age of airbags and crumple zones driving a vintage VW bus is kind of living on the edge.” He’s a rebel..
I just thought about it for a second – and maybe I’m bestowing too much onto their “bad boy” image. It seems to me that the regular scaffold guys are just as loony. I mean, you would have to be to climb around on the outside of buildings held on only by a harness and your brute strength. At lest the boys in the swing department have a (sort of) cage to protect them AND motors to elevate them up and down whereas the scaffolding men have to climb up and down under their own power. Hmmmm.
I guess this debate could rage on for pages. Can we at least agree on one thing? No matter what reputation our guys have off the job – they do some pretty incredible work and they won’t take chances with safety.
Which brings us to the actual job.
I posted this because this isn’t something you see everyday. While doing facade restoration and window replacement at the high rise at 1900 Rittenhouse Square – our guys at Superior Scaffold used 3 foot and 6 foot porch brackets to allow contractors access to the setback facade of the building without having to reach out dangerously or make additional drops in work cages.
What are porch brackets, you ask? They are those unique pieces that so handily clip right into the Altrex staging that fill the gaps. In the photo above you can see one single 3 foot section on the left and two (3’ sections side-by-side) to make the 6’ section. They not only save time and money but also make it much safer for crews while working on buildings with setbacks and bump outs.
This 50’ section of staging spans the entire façade and fits perfectly on either side of the window balconies. The porch brackets allow workers direct access to the façade in one sweep. This superior scaffold is also rigged with the Bisomac 210 hoist for super strength and reliability. We can give a shout out to our supplier BeeAccees who provides us with all of these cool items. This just goes to show how versatile accessories like porch brackets can be when planning out a restoration project.
In this photo you can see the guys working on the windows actually standing on the porch brackets. Without them it would be an infinitely harder job and certainly more time consuming.
So, as the debate rages on – swing department = “bad boys” or not – we can be assured that the crews of this job at 1900 Rittenhouse had a positive experience with a few setbacks!
A bit of history on 1900 Rittenhouse: 1900 Rittenhouse Square Apartments is a historic high-rise building on Rittenhouse Square in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built 1923–1926. The 58-meter-tall, 18-story building has been converted to condominiums.
If you need a positive experience with a few setbacks call Superior Scaffold today – (215) 743-2200.
Superior Scaffold – Firestone Library, Princeton Univeristy (Last Phase) Scaffolding the entire building
This is the last phase of the scaffolding and exterior renovations.
It’s also a follow up to our original post. (scroll down for link)
Princeton University has committed to a comprehensive renovation of Firestone Library
and Superior Scaffold has been there every step of the way. The entire building is scaffolded
and debris netting has been added.
Superior Scaffold was selected to help in the renovation of Princeton’s Prestigious Firestone library because of its long history working with historic buildings on the campus.
Superior Scaffold provided netting around the entire structure so that the Firestone Library could remain open during renovations
The renovation is a long-term project that is being done in multiple phases and will take almost 10 years to finish, during which time the library will remain open, and its collections available during normal hours of operation.
This the back of the library. You can see just how large the scope of this scaffolding job is.
Superior erected as system scaffold allowing crews to get access to all areas of this monumental restoration.
This is directly above the main entrance.
As stated above, the library has to remain open while crews do the work.
This is the right side of the Firestone Library – scaffold continues all the way around.
Superior also provided a series of debris netting and trash chutes to the project.
Directly above the main entrance. The masonry work is outstanding. Everything will look like new when crews are finished.
The Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library opened in 1948 as the first large American university library constructed after World War II. Roughly 1.5 million volumes were moved during the summer of 1948 from Pyne and Chancellor Green Halls, which until then had served as the University’s main library. The library building was expanded in 1971 and again in 1988 and currently has more than 70 miles (110 km) of bookshelves, making Firestone one of the largest open-stack libraries in existence. Though not the largest university library in the world, the library has more books per enrolled student than that of any other university in the United States.
A view of the entire Firestone library from the back.
You can keep tabs of the multi-phase renovation here:
The stair tower up to the top.
You can see our original post about the Firestone library here:
For all of your scaffold and scaffolding needs call Superior Scaffold today (215) 743-2200
or visit http://www.superiorscaffold.com
Triple the action for Superior Scaffold at the Old Dublin Pike Bridge in Doylestown, PA.
The stone arch bridge was originally constructed back in 1875 and then rehabbed in 1947. So it was time for a reconditioning – seems that this old bridge still has over 5,000 cars travel over her every day in Doylestown, PA. Crews needed a way to support the structure and to get into the arches to repair the stones and masonry while keeping the road open above.
This was the challenge for Superior Scaffold.
First order of business was diverting the river through two of the arches so one could be fairly dry while the scaffolding was erected. Then, once that was built, the water had to be diverted again so the second, and then third arch could be constructed.
The next challenge was how to best shore up the arches so work could be completed but also support enough weight for heavy machinery traveling the road over head. Superior engineer Bob Robinson decided on 20k scaffold frames to hold up the shoring beams and wood supports. It allowed the road to remain open for business while construction crews completed the work below.
It’s a unique way to solve the problem and keep a major thoroughfare open.
The job went off without a hitch and the mighty river is flowing once again and cars are happily traveling over the old bridge in Buck County.
Call Superior Scaffold at 215 743-2200 or go to http://www.superiorscaffold.com for all of your scaffolding and shoring needs.
Superior Scaffold and the historical Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ
This neat old church at 1064 Penn Ave, in Wyomissing, PA, that began its life in 1909, needed some repairs to the high vaulted plaster ceilings – so they called Superior Scaffold.
Photo courtesy of Ed Reneger
Superior is known for its skill working with historical buildings and the care it takes around one of a kind artifacts and structures. This was no different. We had to construct some cool system scaffolding up, over and around pews, alters, and priceless objects at Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ
The ceiling was divided into sections with flying buttresses, so the layout had to be spot on accurate.
We used system scaffold with joists and plank to not only get to the hard to reach places but to also build a solid platform or dancefloor for the workers.
The steep, sloped, plaster ceilings had new sheetrock added over the old plaster, and then they were textured and painted.
This gave the old girl the dress up she needed for the next 100 years.
We were proud to bring our skills and experience working with historic buildings to Bausman Memorial United Church of Chris.
Here are some articles detailing Superior Scaffold’s work with historic buildings:
A little history on this church.
Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ is part of a denomination which is a merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States.
Construction of a small church began in 1909 and it was dedicated in 1911. As the congregation grew, members decided to complete the church building with an addition begun in 1922. The completed building was dedicated in 1924.
1064 Penn Ave Wyomissing, PA 19610
(610) 375-9790
Bausman Memorial United Church of Christ is a church of diverse learners seeking answers to life’s questions based on the teachings of Christ. We nurture each other with respect, share with each other as family, and engage God and others in worship, music, study and in service. Every Sunday we offer Church School programs for all ages at 9:00 a.m. and gather for worship at 10:15 a.m.
Superior Scaffold to provide scaffolding support for Philadelphia Energy Solutions turnaround at old Sunoco refinery.
Superior Scaffold has entered into a deal with Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), to provide scaffolding support for a turnaround at their large Philadelphia plant. This is the Point Breeze refining complex – which is the old Sunoco plant in South Philly.
Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) is the longest continuously operating refinery on the East Coast, processing 330,000 barrels of crude oil per day into various refined products.
Superior will provide all of the necessary scaffolding support during this shutdown. “Our guys are currently working with PES planning and organizing the massive turnaround so everything goes smoothly,” said Lou Collins, Superior Scaffold estimator. “We anticipate about a 12 week pre-to-post timeframe to complete this job.”
For those who don’t know, a turnaround at a refinery is a planned, periodic shut down (total or partial) of a refinery plant or unit to perform maintenance, repair and overhaul operations and to inspect, test and replace process materials and equipment.
Superior will be working with the exchangers, drums, towers, internal reactors and Re-gen and much more all around the complex.
We are proud to bring our 50 years plus of refinery experience to one of Philadelphia’s finest companies. And will keep you posted as we move through this turnaround process.
For all of your industrial scaffolding needs call Lou Collins @ 215 279-8123 or lou@superiorscaffold.com.
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