Walking On Slate Roof

What are the different types of roofs and what are they made of.

Walking on slate roof.

Ways to work on a steeply pitched roof. Roofs come in plenty of different materials like wood metal clay slate asphalt and composite shingle. While it s usually best to stay off your roof if possible you can still walk on the tiles if you need to make repairs. Slate roofing tiles are very delicate and can easily crack and dislodge under your weight.

The windows on these houses are usually the original cut ups with storms. Of these shingle is the most common because of the cheap installation costs. Experienced slate installers never walk on a slate roof but instead erect scaffolding or prop hook ladders to the side of the building before beginning repairs. December 10 2015 12 22am 1.

This may be caused by falling tree limbs ice dams in gutters valleys and chimney crickets the weight of a workman walking on the roof or a naturally occurring fault in the slate unit. The generally accepted method for working on slate roofs is via the use of hook ladders which hook over the ridge of the roof and allow the contractor to walk all over the roof without putting any weight on the roof itself. Walking on slate roofs. The possibility of slipping and falling makes working on any roof dangerous but it s especially so if the roof rises more than 4 feet for every 12 feet of.

Before you can start walking you need to understand a little more about roofs in general. Contractors who use ropes and walk on the slate roof should be avoided at all costs. If it s absolutely necessary to walk on the slates walk on the middle of the slate and use soft soled shoes. Ideally you would only allow specially trained roofers to work on roofs covered in slate but for emergency repairs or the retrieval of the occasional frisbee it can t be.

Whatever the form of damage if it is caught soon enough the roof can usually be repaired or selectively replaced and deterioration mitigated. Clay and concrete tiles are a great roofing material since they re more durable than shingles but they can break or crack if you apply too much pressure while you re walking on them. In my area there are alot of old houses with the original slate roofs.