The terms that come up reading a scaffolding quotation or talking on site can be opaque to anyone outside the trade. Here are the ones used most.
Types of scaffolding
Facade scaffolding. Access scaffolding erected along the outside of a building, platformed lift by lift. Painting, rendering, insulation and cladding are mostly done from it. It is not a free-standing structure; it is tied to the building.
Formwork scaffolding (shoring / falsework). Erected to carry the weight of fresh concrete and formwork rather than to give access. The loads are an order above facade scaffolding, so it is designed separately.
Mobile tower. A castored tower that can be moved without dismantling. Practical indoors and on short jobs; dangerous if the castor brakes are off.
Suspended scaffold (cradle). A platform hung on ropes from the roof that travels up and down. Fast to deploy on tall facades, but the platform is narrow and not meant for stacking material. REMA does not build suspended scaffolds; we compared the options for tall buildings in scaffold, mast platform or scissor lift.
Load-bearing components
Standard. The vertical member. It carries load down to the ground. In a flanged system it carries rosettes welded at 50 or 100 cm intervals.
Ledger. The horizontal tube connecting two standards. It sets the lift heights and carries the platforms.
Brace (diagonal). The member that triangulates the rectangle formed by standards and ledgers. It is what stiffens the scaffold against lateral load; remove it and the system racks like a box.
Base jack. The threaded adjuster under the standard. It brings the scaffold to plumb on sloping ground. A jack wound out to its limit is outside the design.
Base plate. The plate under the jack. It spreads load into the ground. A standard resting directly on soil sinks with the first rain.
The working level
Platform. The surface worked from. Steel, aluminium or timber.
Guardrail. The horizontal barrier at the platform edge. The main guardrail sits at the top, the intermediate in the middle; both are required.
Toe board. The upstand at the platform edge. It stops falling material, not people. The component forgotten most often.
Bracket. An extension widening the scaffold towards the facade, used to close the gap between scaffold and building.
Connection and erection
Tie. The component fixing the scaffold to the structure. A facade scaffold is not free-standing; its resistance to overturning comes from here.
Wedge head. In a flanged system, the connector on the end of a ledger or brace that drops into the rosette and is hammered tight.
Bay. The unit defined by one standard spacing × one lift height. Take-off is usually discussed in bays.
Stair tower. The section built for access, with stairs inside. If people climb the braces, the scaffold was not finished.
Measurement and standards
Deflection. How much the platform flexes under load. Tested at 2.5 m span under 100 kg.
TS EN 12810. The product standard for prefabricated facade scaffolding systems.
TS EN 12811. Performance requirements and design rules for scaffolds.
TS EN 1065. The standard for adjustable steel props.
S355JR. The structural steel grade used in scaffold tubes.
On the formwork side
Formwork. The face the concrete takes its shape from.
Wall formwork. The formwork that forms both faces of a reinforced concrete wall. The two faces are set opposite each other and pulled together with tie rods; those rods are what actually carry the lateral pressure of fresh concrete.
Column formwork. The formwork that gives a column its section. Square, rectangular or circular; the taller the pour, the higher the concrete pressure, so the clamping spacing tightens.
Shoring / falsework. The system carrying the formwork and fresh concrete until the concrete has set. Different from access scaffolding: the loads here are far greater.
Table formwork. Formwork and its support combined so the whole assembly can be craned in one piece.
H20 beam. The timber formwork beam. It takes its name from its H-shaped section and 20 cm depth.
If a term is missing here, or there is a line in a quotation you do not recognise, ask us and we will explain it.