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Attaching Steeldeck to an existing stage


JCC1996

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Hi,

 

We're hiring some steeldeck (or similar temporary staging) to extend an existing stage in a hall. It'll be 8'x4' decks arranged 4 wide by 2 deep. The legs will make the structure around 1m high. I have 2 questions:

 

1. Will the staging be stable enough just on its legs? In my mind it is long and thin compared to a standard rectangular stage, but I'm thinking that it will be OK without any extra bracing or support? It won't have any great deal of weight on it, just people dancing.

 

2. What is the recommended method for attaching the stealdeck to the existing stage? The stage is wooden and bolting/screwing isn't an issue if necessary.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Joe

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You will need some diagonal cross bracing, how much depends on how firmly you can fix it to the existing stage. If you can fix into the front of the existing stage you could put coach bolts through the deck fixing points.

Decking is not very stable without bracing and especially with people dancing on it. The hire company should be able to advise you on bracing and provide suitable poles and clamps.

 

You'll also need jack legs or wood pads to match the height of the deck to your stage, unless the legs happen to be exactly the right height.

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if you can bolt the steeldeck to the existing staging that will give you the best results for stability between the old and new stages. Without knowing how the old stage is constructed though it's hard to advise furthur. Some cross bracing under the deck will cut down on wobble, as will bolting any pieces to steeldeck to each other. But finding a way to bolt or loadstrap the steeldecks to a fixed point will be a tremendous boon.
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Depending upon which local authority area your performance falls, and depending upon the spread of your advertising, and whetehr you mean the PEL exemption or not, then it may be worth noting that at least one of the West of Scotland councils is very particular regarding steeldeck leg bracing , sometimes requiring significant diagonal crossbracing in vertical and horizontal axes which goes beyond what calculations, or indded experience stage builders, have deemed necessary.

 

They have been known to pop in based upon advertising to do checks on electrics, staging escape routes etc.

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A structure that shape at 1m shouldn't need any bracing according to Steeldeck's recommendations (bracing once over 4') if using steel legs. Lighter weight staging systems may need bracing, as may aluminium legs; though do check with your local authority as I know Scotland can be more particular about this.

 

In my experience, if this is going to be a regular thing, you are best getting boss plates mounted into the stage front that you can then bolt into. Don't underestimate how well they need to be fixed in though, you may need to add bracing behind so that they are not just fixed to a fascia with short screws.

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Jon, I would normally agree that there is no need for bracing but once I saw the phrase "just some people dancing" the alarm bells rang. I don't believe that vertical diagonals are needed when staging is fixed securely to a permanent structure, whether by bolting through or using coachbolts. I do think that the bases of the legs would benefit from horizontal bracing in two directions.

 

People are the worst kind of loads to manage but dancing people are a nightmare and simply making sure legs stay vertical and do not "spread" should be more than sufficient on a solid level floor with fixings onto the solid stage on one metre legs.

 

Anyone else ever see a stage "walk"? It's like those antique tin horses that I had as a child.

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Thanks for the replies so far. I have posed the same questions to our hire company, who is based locally so should be aware of local regs. I just thought I'd ask for some extra opinions/ideas on here. You've definitely provided some points to think on.

 

Many thanks,

 

Joe

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  • 4 weeks later...

Good Morning,

 

I've just thought of another question related to this. We are building a 24' x 8' stage out of 8x4 Litedeck. In my head I imagined building this three decks and two decks deep, with the long edges of the deck making up the front and back of the finished stage. Obviously though, the same size stage could be achieved by laying all 6 decks with long edges touching, thus the short edges of each deck forming the front and back of the stage.

 

Is one of these layouts correct? Why? This one is really just out of curiosity!

 

Cheers,

 

Joe

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