Stairs & Scaffolding
Buy and sell stairs and scaffolding in Costa Rica.
Despite the name, this is ladders and scaffolding: the step ladder that comes out to clear the gutters, the extension ladder a painter ties off at the eaves, and the galvanised box frames that go up the front of a house for a repello or a new roof. New and pre-owned pieces are both listed. Much of what turns up second-hand is scaffolding from a finished build and ladders that outlived the job they were bought for. The piece to know is the andamio tipo box, which adds about 1.93 m of height per body and stacks as high as the wall needs.
Step ladders, extension ladders and the Tipo label:
many of the ladders sold in Costa Rica come from Mexican makers such as Cuprum and Truper, so they are sold by height in feet and rated on a sticker on the rail. Tipo III, 150 kg, is the light grade most homes buy; Tipo II, 175 kg, is the painters’ and electricians’ grade. That rating has to cover you, your tools and the paint bucket together. The height in feet is the ladder, not your reach: an 8 ft step ladder puts your feet a little under 2 m up and your hands close to 4 m. Past that you need an extension ladder, sold by rung count, or a multiposición ladder that folds into a step ladder, a straight one or a platform base. Aluminium is lighter and cheaper. Fibreglass does not conduct, which matters the moment a job goes near the service cable or the meter box. The drills that go up with you are under tools.
Box-type scaffolding and the pin it uses:
the box body is the frame scaffold most Costa Rican builders work from: two welded ladder frames joined by two cross members, stacked body on body with couplers, with narrow bodies for corridors and pavements. The block and cement for the wall it serves are under building materials. The pin is what separates two similar bodies. A pin mariposa goes in and out in seconds and suits a tower put up and taken down daily. A security pin locks and does not shake loose, so it is the one for a tower that stands for weeks. Bases, casters, guardrails and extra platforms are bought separately, so a listing for four bodies may be bare frames and cross braces. Ask what comes with it.
Box bodies and ladders against the rental rate:
a new galvanised box body costs about ₡110,000 to ₡135,000 depending on the pin, and a 16-rung aluminium extension ladder about ₡105,000, with fibreglass close to twice that. Scaffolding is also rented by the body, by the day, week or month, and that caps a used set: it has to cost less than renting for the length of your job. A fortnight of painting favours renting; a house built in stages over a year favours owning. Ladders have no such ceiling: a straight aluminium one loses little with age, while sun-faded fibreglass is worth far less than its shelf price.
Bent rails, loose rivets and oval pin holes:
sight down each rail of a used ladder; a bend or dent does not come out, and that ladder cannot be trusted. Rock each step for loose rivets, and check the spreaders lock flat, all four feet are there and an extension ladder’s rung locks snap shut. Fibreglass that has lived outdoors goes dull and rough and sheds fibres when rubbed, and has lost part of its insulation. On scaffold frames, check the welds where cross tubes meet the legs and the foot of each leg, where rust and cracks start. Oval pin holes and bent cross braces let a tower sway; a cross brace is cheap to replace, a cracked frame is not. Painted frames rust where the paint has chipped, galvanised ones last far longer, and widths differ between makers, so measure before adding frames to a tower you already own.
A ladder or a stack of box frames for its next job:
for a ladder, give the type, height in feet, material and the Tipo from the label, and photograph that label, the feet and the locks. For scaffolding, count the bodies, cross members, bases, casters, guardrails and platforms, and name the pin. Say whether the frames are galvanised or painted and who made them, and point out any welded repair before a buyer finds it. Frames travel flat in a pickup bed, so a buyer driving over from Alajuela or Puntarenas mostly wants to know how many trips it will take and whether the pins are bagged with the frames.