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Posted by Steve on March 25, 2007, 8:23 pm
On my street, I see roofing guys walking on these very pitched roofs,
almost seems like nothing to them. I try and I'm sliding. I can't do
it. I have a 2 story house, with a 1 story attached garage, and the
gutters are in a spot where the 1 story meets the 2nd story, and I would
like to get up and clean them.
I can't do it, I feel like I have no traction.
This might seem like a stupid question, but is it mental? I don't think
I'm afraid, as I do make the trip up there and try.
It is the shoes/boots?
Steve
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Posted by aemeijers on March 25, 2007, 8:32 pm
> On my street, I see roofing guys walking on these very pitched roofs,
> almost seems like nothing to them. I try and I'm sliding. I can't do
> it. I have a 2 story house, with a 1 story attached garage, and the
> gutters are in a spot where the 1 story meets the 2nd story, and I would
> like to get up and clean them.
>
> I can't do it, I feel like I have no traction.
>
> This might seem like a stupid question, but is it mental? I don't think
> I'm afraid, as I do make the trip up there and try.
>
> It is the shoes/boots?
>
Both. Practice, no fear of heights, and the correct soft-sole shoes. I
cringe when I see roofers working in hardsole lugged boots- hell on the
shingles. I prefer soft-sole clean tennis shoes, and walk as gently as I
can. I don't walk near as close to the edge as I used to- my body is trying
to tell me something with that queasy feeling in pit of stomach when I stand
right at a dropoff now. Guess the inner ears are going. For gutters, I now
clean from above, with a leaf blower. Walk parallel to gutter an arm-length
back, and use it like a firehose. Works great on continuous gutters, not so
hot on old soldered galvanized. For a 12-12 roof, I'd clean from below, or
hire it out.
aem sends....
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Posted by Jeff Wisnia on March 26, 2007, 1:40 pm
aemeijers wrote:
>
>>On my street, I see roofing guys walking on these very pitched roofs,
>>almost seems like nothing to them. I try and I'm sliding. I can't do
>>it. I have a 2 story house, with a 1 story attached garage, and the
>>gutters are in a spot where the 1 story meets the 2nd story, and I would
>>like to get up and clean them.
>>
>>I can't do it, I feel like I have no traction.
>>
>>This might seem like a stupid question, but is it mental? I don't think
>>I'm afraid, as I do make the trip up there and try.
>>
>>It is the shoes/boots?
>>
>
> Both. Practice, no fear of heights, and the correct soft-sole shoes. I
> cringe when I see roofers working in hardsole lugged boots- hell on the
> shingles. I prefer soft-sole clean tennis shoes, and walk as gently as I
> can. I don't walk near as close to the edge as I used to- my body is trying
> to tell me something with that queasy feeling in pit of stomach when I stand
> right at a dropoff now. Guess the inner ears are going.
I've heard it isn't just the inner ear which deteriorates and affects
balance. A physical therapist told me a while back that it's also the
feedback from the muscles/nerves around your feet and ankles which do
not supply "tilting" signals as well as they did when they were younger.
I guess that guy was right when he told me that once your body reaches a
certain age everything either breaks down, dries up or leaks. <G>
****************8
This thread is as about as serendipitous as it could be for me. When I
arrived home from work last Friday I noticed that a few feet of one end
of the ridge vent on our two story colonial home was flapping in the
breeze. I don't have any problems being up two stories on an extension
ladder, painting something, but like the OP, walking on pitched roofs
freaks me out. And, at the tender age of 71 I'm definitely noticing that
decreasing balance ability thing crreeping up on me.
I was envisoning having to call a roofer and pay whatever it took to buy
15 minutes on the job to tack the ridge vent back down again, 'cause for
one thing around here the worker's compensation premiums for employees
who do that for a living are a bit over 100% of their wages.
This time I got lucky and found a local (fearless) handyman advertising
in the town paper who was happy to do the job for me for about the cost
of a good meal. He insisted on shooting in galvanized screws (with
washers no less) to replace the original roofing nails which had pulled
out, and then went the entire length of the ridge, ending up putting in
more screws than an x-rated movie, just to "make sure" it wouldn't
happen again.
****************
BTW, here's a tip for you ladder users. If you take a few seconds to
spray paint the lowest rung on all your ladders with an easily visible
paint, like day-glo orange, you'll greatly lessen the chance of stepping
off the second rung by mistake and messing up your ankle, an open can of
paint, or both.
Jeff
--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.
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Posted by claude on March 28, 2007, 4:28 pm
While we are on the subject of a pitched roof, I'd like to know how to
attach a safety harness cable. I have a deadly fear of ledges ( not heights,
as a pilot that would be quite a problem :o). This fear of ledges would be
greatly reduced if I felt secure in a safety harness. Where and how would I
attach this on the roof without drilling any holes? I've watched contractors
run around with their safety harnesses but I couldn't see how they where
attached.
Claude
Montreal Canada.
I hope this is all legible, my mother tongue is French.
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Posted by Goedjn on March 28, 2007, 5:46 pm
>
>While we are on the subject of a pitched roof, I'd like to know how to
>attach a safety harness cable. I have a deadly fear of ledges ( not heights,
>as a pilot that would be quite a problem :o). This fear of ledges would be
>greatly reduced if I felt secure in a safety harness. Where and how would I
>attach this on the roof without drilling any holes? I've watched contractors
>run around with their safety harnesses but I couldn't see how they where
>attached.
>
>Claude
>Montreal Canada.
>
>I hope this is all legible, my mother tongue is French.
Well, for myself, I drilled a hole and sank a 4" galvanized
eyebolt into the ridgepole, and caulked the shit out of it,
but I expect that professionals use sort of flat nailing plate
like the ones on roof jacks, that slide under the shingles.
--Goedjn
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