Bracing
What is a buttress?
A buttress is a framed structure built out from the side of a scaffold to widen its base and resist overturning, used where the scaffold cannot be tied.
Use this diagram+
Free to use on your own site, in training material or in a course handout, as long as the credit link stays on it. Paste this where you want the diagram to appear.
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<img src="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk/glossary/buttress/diagram.svg" alt="buttress — scaffold diagram from ScaffoldOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>
<a href="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk/glossary/buttress">What is a buttress?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk">ScaffoldOptix</a>
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</figure>Where a raker is a single inclined tube, a buttress is a built-out frame — effectively a small scaffold at right angles to the main one, giving it a wider footprint.
They are used on free-standing structures, on runs that cannot be tied to anything, and where the loading is high enough that a raker would not be sufficient.
A buttress takes ground, which is often the practical problem. A scaffold that needs buttressing on a footpath or a live road is a scaffold with a logistics question attached.
What goes wrong on site
- Buttresses assumed to be interchangeable with ties.
- Built without considering the ground under the outer leg.
- Removed or shortened on site to clear an obstruction.