What to use for stage legs on grass

R

Russ Pangratz

Freshman
Jul 8, 2013
14
0
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North Florida
I'm doing a lot of rental stage setups and have several upcoming jobs at schools on the sports fields and I want to be sure my staging doesn't dig into the grass.

I've thought about cutting a bunch of 2x6 pressure treated lumber but that would be pretty bulky to carry. I'm thinking some type of very hard plastic coasters or something.

Any ideas?
 
Re: What to use for stage legs on grass

Do not use "real" wood. Use plywood. Standard around here is 8" squares of 1/2" or 5/8" plywood. Real wood will split when soaking up ground moisture, plywood won't. I carry a bunch in old plastic milk crates.
 
Re: What to use for stage legs on grass

+1 Dick

If you are setting up staging on grass, or at all really (help with leveling), carrying around squares of plywood is just part of the gig.
 
Re: What to use for stage legs on grass

Dick Rees said:
Do not use "real" wood. Use plywood. Standard around here is 8" squares of 1/2" or 5/8" plywood. Real wood will split when soaking up ground moisture, plywood won't. I carry a bunch in old plastic milk crates.
Click to expand...

That's what we use (although we have some 3/4") and how we transport them. We save the scraps from our wood shop for things like this.
 
Re: What to use for stage legs on grass

Russ Pangratz said:
I'm thinking some type of very hard plastic coasters or something.
Click to expand...
Trex composite deck material, available in a variety of colors.
If you have endless supply of plywood it's OK, but the plys will separate in humid outdoor use unless you paint them regularly.
Trex will last years (there are different guarantees for different $$) and rounds over easily with standard router bits, no slivers like chewed up ply.

You might check with deck installers, they probably would save cutoffs for a case of beer or a few bucks.

Another really great material is SmartPanel, the 3/8" would save some size and weight and should be up to the loading. I have made cable ramps from it, and they withstand truck traffic.
It comes primed, I have had some laying outside directly on dirt as a sidewalk for 13 years now, no rot or degradation.
 
Re: What to use for stage legs on grass

Thanks for the advice. Plywood would certainly be easy and easy to replace but I can see how it would separate, especially on wet grass. I like the Trex idea. I believe a 16' piece is about $20 at the Depot.
 
Re: What to use for stage legs on grass

Russ Pangratz said:
Thanks for the advice. Plywood would certainly be easy and easy to replace but I can see how it would separate, especially on wet grass. I like the Trex idea. I believe a 16' piece is about $20 at the Depot.
Click to expand...

The plywood will get a bit "wrinkly", but it hangs together just fine. And nobody will steal your plywood pads...
 
Re: What to use for stage legs on grass

Russ Pangratz said:
Plywood would certainly be easy and easy to replace but I can see how it would separate, especially on wet grass.
Click to expand...

We do LOTS of staging in the grass all summer long. I can't remember any of our 3/4" plywood squares delaminating due to the moisture. We even had some that sunk 2" into the mud, and stayed there for a week until the area dried enough for truck traffic. A few minutes with the power washer and they were good as new. We cut them slightly under 6"x6" and can fit 60 in a standard milk crate.

Whatever you end up with, paint them fluorescent orange or yellow. It makes finding them a whole lot easier!
 
Re: What to use for stage legs on grass

12" squares of 3/4" plywood...cheap and easy, plus no big loss if you need to cut them up to modify something or toss them if they get trashed.. I painted most of ours black to keep em looking clean and had 12 set under a deck in a small lake for 4 weeks that are still in service!

If you have a table saw and trim them to 11 7/8" they fit perfectly into a milk crate on end.
 
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