Home Improvements
Making improvements to your home can transform a space, whether you’re looking to add value to your property, or simply make the space work better for you. This may involve remodelling a kitchen or bathroom, building a kitchen or loft extension, or giving your home’s exterior a facelift.
Whether you have bought a new home, or are looking to update your current home, many of us will embark on home improvements at some point. Making improvements to your home can transform a space, whether you’re looking to add value to your property, or simply make the space work better for you. This may involve remodelling a kitchen or bathroom, building a kitchen or loft extension, or giving your home’s exterior a facelift. The need for specialised equipment comes in when projects grow in scale and complexity, and are a necessary addition to ensure safety and efficiency.
Whether it be lifting heavy materials, installing new windows, or installing large items such as refrigerators or heavy furniture, lifting equipment will come in handy in all aspects of your renovation. Using the right equipment will not only reduce risk of injury, but will significantly improve efficiency, therefore minimising labour costs.
Lifting equipment you may use in home improvement projects
Cranes:
Cranes are often associated with large construction sites, however for residential projects smaller cranes, such as mobile or gantry cranes, can be an invaluable tool. Cranes are particularly useful when lifting heavy materials, such as steel beams, roof trusses or large structural components. If you’re making significant structural changes or extended a house, it’s likely you’ll need to use a crane. Handling heavy materials using a crane can significantly improve safety and minimise the risk of injury or accident, as well as keeping your project timeline on track.
Hoists:
Hoists are invaluable when lifting heavy materials vertically. If you’re using a crane, you’ll need the correct hoist attachment for what you need. However with the right runway system, electric hoists, chain hoists and manual hoists can also be used without a crane to lift materials to upper levels. Another common use is window replacement or installing exterior siding on upper floors of multi-story homes.
Jacks:
Jacks are commonly used in the automotive industry, as they are the ideal equipment for lifting heavy items to create space underneath. They are ideal for foundation repair work, lifting and stabilising foundations while repairs take place. Similarly, if you are installing or repairing flooring or subflooring they can be used to lift and level sections of flooring. Jacks can also be used for deck construction, helping to position and level beams.
Moving Skates:
If you’re shifting large furniture pieces such as sofas, tables or cabinets, moving skates will make light work of it. Using skates will ensure the safety of movers, as well as making it simple to rearrange rooms or clear space for renovation work such as painting. As well as reducing the physical dangers of lifting, they will also minimise the risk of floor damage on newly installed flooring. They are also ideal for moving refrigerators, washing machines and ovens.
Lifting Accessories:
Lifting accessories such as slings and shackles will be essential for lifting heavy construction materials such as steel beams, roof trusses or large wooden frames. They proved a secure connection or any hoists or cranes you may be using for heavy lifting. Slings also come in very handy when transporting large or awkwardly shaped items, preventing movement and damage during transportation. This makes them the ideal accessory when you are moving house. If tree removal is required in order to carry out construction work, slings and shackles can be used to securely and safely remove tree branches and whole trees.
Furniture movers:
Furniture movers do exactly what they say in the name: they make easy work of relocating large pieces of furniture. This makes rearranging rooms or creating space for improvements efficient and safe. They are ideal for when you have installed new flooring in your home and want to be able to shift heavy items without damaging your floor, resulting in a smoother and safer process. If you are painting or wallpapering in your home, furniture movers can help you move bulky items away from walls to protect them from paint splatters. As with moving skates, furniture movers are ideal when moving large appliances for removal or installation safely, massively reducing risk of injury.
MAKING LIFTING EQUIPMENT WORK FOR YOU
While undertaking home renovations many of us can be cost sensitive, but safety and efficiency is not the area to be cutting back. Leveraging the right equipment such as cranes, hoists and furniture movers for moving heavy and large materials and objects makes renovations significantly easier and more efficient.
This in turn reduces the need for extensive manual labour and can notably cut down on project time, saving you money and time in the long run. Taking advantage of the correct lifting equipment can enable you to minimise labour costs, while speeding up the project completion, getting you your dream home that much faster.
Crucially, utilising lifting equipment correctly means that the risk of injury is substantially reduced, as you can move loads that would be not only impractical, but dangerous to move manually. Proper use of lifting equipment gives you the ability to safely handle loads that you would not be able to otherwise.
Overall, lifting equipment is a crucial aspect of the home-improvement process, contributing to safety, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
