Using Aerial Lifts: Three Residential Tasks Made Easier With Heavy Construction Equipment

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While most jobs around the house are easy enough to perform with your own tools, there are a few where borrowing equipment from the heavy construction category can make them infinitely easier and safer. Here are three residential tasks for which you might want to rent an aerial lift.

Hanging Holiday Lights

Have you ever envied those gorgeous holiday light displays you see on other homes? Don't feel bad; many of those houses were decorated by professionals. But now you too can make your house look like a movie set and reach all those tall trees, second and third stories, and peaked roofs. How?

The answer is to rent an aerial lift--a scissor lift or bucket truck--that gives you the reach you need to hang lights at greater heights. Using an aerial lift is quicker and safer than a ladder, because it gives you a larger, sturdier platform with a railing or a contained bucket to stand in.

Look for a lift that's self-propelled (you drive it into position) and that can extend to the height you need and carry your maximum weight (you, plus maybe a work partner and any equipment). Also, ask which lifts need an even surface when they are operated and which can handle less stable ground if you have an uneven yard.

To make your rental economical and fun, consider renting an aerial lift for a week with your neighbors. Everyone can decorate their homes, and your block will be the envy of the town.

Cleaning Gutters

Before you hang those holiday lights, it's a good idea to get your gutters cleaned out for the winter. If you live in a rainy or snowy area, clean gutters protect your roof line and home's interior by allowing water to flow away from your house. Having clean gutters can also help prevent ice damming in very snowy regions.

This is another project you could do as a neighborhood. While you're renting your lift, consider renting any other tools you need to get the job done, such as leaf blowers.

Building a Tree House

Having a tree house for your kids can be an ideal way to get them outdoors and away from the TV. Tree houses can create special memories for kids for years to come.

But building a tree house from scratch, even with the perfect tree, can be head scratchingly difficult. How do you start when you have nothing to stand on?

An aerial lift makes this job much easier and less arduous, and you won't be trying to haul heavy lumber up a ladder. With today's electric aerial lifts, you can plug your tools into an outlet right on the lift platform, so there's no running out of batteries or having to connect long and potentially dangerous extension cords to the house for power.

Like with gutter cleaning, the construction equipment rental company may also have other tools you can use to help with your tree house building project, such as saws and nail guns. Let them know about your project--they may have great ideas to make it even more efficient for you.

To learn more about using aerial lifts, contact a local heavy equipment company. 

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20 April 2015

Making Your Yard Sing

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