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Kinda on-topic: Shoes for Metal Roofs

Tim: The solution to not falling off the roof is one or more of the permanent fall-arrest anchor rings on the roof ridge, and a safety harness and rappel rope with a self-belay device.

To get started throw a rope all the way across the roof and tie off to a tree on the other side of the house, then you can get up to the ridge and install the permanent anchor ring. Then tie off to the ring using a separate safety rope to the new anchor while you work.

With a self-belay device, you can move around freely on the roof to get your business done, but if something starts to get slippery you can release the handle to belay and slam on the brakes.

And switch back to your tree anchor rope on the last trip down for the day. Leave the anchor ring up there, they are cheap enough and fairly unobtrusive. (You can spray paint it to match the roof.)

It's not "corked" as in a cork sole, wouldn't work that well because the friction isn't going to be reliable enough.

What you were thinking of are called "Caulked Boots" - basically old-style carbide tipped golf shoe spikes in a work boot sole.

Loggers used to have their boots built with tacks/nails pounded through the leather boot soles pointed out, but they stole the screw-in spike idea from the golfers so the spikes could be changed easily when they wear out or break.

Real good on dirt and vegetation and felled logs, not so good on hardwood floors or metal roofs - they will leave BIG scars. And you can't drive or do a lot of other things while wearing them.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman
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Magnets.

Reply to
Clay

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I fell off a rickety 2 foot ladder. That was far enough for me. Karl

Reply to
kfvorwerk

Tim Wescott fired this volley in news:meOdnS6tmKSzS9XWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@web-ster.com:

Not trick shoes, but a trick. Wear sneakers or cleated boots and walk ONLY on the screw heads.

'Been up'n'down a lot of barns that way. Mostly they were 4-in-12 and 5- in-12 roofs. I personally wouldn't want to walk on a wet metal roof over

5-in-12.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Tim Wescott fired this volley in news:a_SdnQjRGP1sdtXWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@web-ster.com:

Over the peak, Tim. Lowes and Home depot sell a "bucket" of fall- protection kit. Roof cleat, safety line, harness, line-grabber, and snubber, all for about $100.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Good point!

Reply to
Ed Huntress

I work on a 5-12 pitch metal roof from time to time. I would not even consider going up there when the roof is wet or snow covered. This is a standing seam roof, so no screw heads to stand on. With my hiking boots I wear I can almost stand in place on the roof when it is dry. I will slowly slide down and have to reposition my feet a few times a minute to stay in one place. Try to sit on the roof and you will slide right off if you are not tied up, or hanging on to something. A safety rope is the best option with a safety harness, but I often work on this rood with no gear. working up there was a bit un-nerving at first, but the traction is fairly predictable, but bordering on poor! Greg O

Reply to
Greg O

hey tim, good luck. i'm surprised nobody has cracked a joke yet about magnetic shoes. i did a google search just as a goof, this is the only thing i could find for "magnetic shoes"

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b.w.

Reply to
William Wixon

You're right William, it's definitely surprising that no one suggested magnetic shoes.

All ya gotta do is.. get some hard drive magnets, or the electromagnetic bases from mag drills, etc.

I'd like to see a picture (video even better) of that stack climber coming down head first.

Reply to
Wild_Bill

I always thougth a belaying hookup at the top of the roof (well anchored to the rafters of course) would be a good idea, and I don't even have a tricky roof (colonial, with shingles). I did belaying in a climbing harness, with my father-in-law down at the other side of the house---it makes cleaning gutters a snap when you just skip around the edge of the roof, worry-free.

Reply to
Przemek Klosowski

You take a foam-rubber Softball, drill a small hole through the middle, lace one end of a 100-plus-foot chunk of heavy twine to 1/4" rope through the hole, tie a big knot. Lay the small rope out on the lawn so there's free slack, then throw the ball over the roof to the other side, across the ridge.

Tie your climbing rope to the small rope, pull it across to the other side, and tie it of to a bomb-proof anchor item like a mature tree.

Then you can climb that side of the roof with relative impunity.

If you need to go out on a hip end of the roof, then you nail down one of the Roofer's Anchor Point Rings, and attach your rope with a locking carabineer where it makes that 90-degree turn, then you are roped off on the hip roof slope too.

Take a stud finder and a piece of chipboard so you can find the rafters. Then put a little elastomeric caulk on the roof surface underneath the anchor ring when you nail it to the ridge board and down the joist on both sides. Lots of nails, no empty holes.

Last thing you do on the way down is to take your rope out of the anchor and shift it to one side, so you don't get caulk or paint in the rope. Then hit the nail heads and the edges with the elastomeric caulk again to make a good rain seal, Then spray-paint the whole anchor point with FLAT spray paint roughly the color of the roof shingles. The anchor point will pretty much disappear.

Next time you are up there, the anchor is installed. And they are cheap enough to build into the bid and leave on the site for next time.

They can put a layer of new shingles right over the anchor next time they replace the roof. Totally disappears except for the ring sticking out.

If you really want to take the anchor ring home with you, use duplex head nails, they are easy to pull back out. BUT the anchor straps will get messed up after being reused a few times and have to be trashed, and you now have to seal up all the holes you made in their roof - Still better to leave it.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

The ropes are a nuisance when you are shingling, they catch on tools and piles of shingles.

I built a little platform next to the chimney, supported by two 2" pipes on the low end and galvanized straps reaching up under the shingles on the upper end. Vent stack cones seal the pipes.

I built it to clean the chimney safely in winter, but it was extremely helpful when a tree fell through the roof and I needed power tools and a generator up there to patch the holes.

For roof anchors I used large screw eyes in the end rafters, through the fascia boards which needed to be replaced. That was fine until I shingled near them. The ridge rope cuts into the shingles and drip edge if pulled tight.

Roof anchors sound good, but how would you connect to them if the roof was covered with snow and ice? If I left a climbing rope up there it could be exposed to the sun for months (problem?) and if I don't I have to reach the anchor somehow. I'd most likely have to go up right after an ice storm, when a light pull line looped between the anchors could be frozen in.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

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