Scaffold types
What is a putlog scaffold?
A putlog scaffold has a single row of standards, with the inner end of each horizontal member built into the wall. The building carries part of the load.
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<figure>
<img src="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk/glossary/putlog-scaffold/diagram.svg" alt="putlog scaffold — scaffold diagram from ScaffoldOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>
<a href="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk/glossary/putlog-scaffold">What is a putlog scaffold?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk">ScaffoldOptix</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>The horizontal member is a putlog: a tube with a flattened blade at one end that sits in a bed joint of the brickwork as it rises. The wall is part of the structure.
That makes it a bricklayer's scaffold, historically. It goes up with the brickwork and it needs brickwork capable of taking the load — which rules out most modern construction and most refurbishment.
It is far less common now than it was, but the term survives in the name of the putlog coupler, which is still used on independent scaffolds.
What goes wrong on site
- Assuming a putlog scaffold can be used where the wall is not built to take it.
- Removing putlogs as brickwork is pointed, leaving the scaffold without support.
- Confusing the scaffold type with the coupler that shares its name.