This Is An Easy One

Access for inspecting a church spire:

Note the scaffold stair on the left. It may be a long way up, but there’s no climbing involved. This is a good place to point out that the physical ability to climb and tolerance for heights varies from person to person, and our instructions to staff have always been “if you’re not comfortable going there, don’t.” I’m personally in the “okay with heights but have limited flexibility and actually am something of a klutz” category. So I’d be okay with this stair and platform. (It was Ellen who went up.)

Note that before modern scaffolding, the only way to go up a tower like this was to hire a steeplejack – the predecessors to today’s rope-access firms – or build a custom scaffold from wood. The first got you second-hand answers; the second got you, usually, awkward access. Of course, modern scaffold doesn’t solve all the problems: note that most of the spire is visible only from the stair, and therefore only on one side.

All forms of inspection access have good points and bad, and all end with us having to make some assumptions about unseen conditions. This scaffold stair and top platform is a good one for the top of the spire and an okay one for the exterior. Often, the final determination of the exact scope of damage waits until repair work is in construction, when there is more complete access.