I need to go up on my steep roof to install gutter protection and clean out the gutters. But it's a good drop off one side. Is there a safety harness I could buy a rig up to one of my trees? Also I was watching a program about stealth rubber. It is used for rock climbing shoes. I wonder if these would help me keep my grip while up there.
Also is there a safer ladder vs. another kind. I plan on going up on the short side of my house so time on a ladder will be minimal.
TIA
Safety harnesses are normally anchored at the peak of the roof. Anchoring to a tree could be iffy and certainly wouldn't meet OSHA requirements, but OSHA has no jurisdiction over personal projects. Harness kits are available at commercial ladder and scaffolding suppliers.
For shoes, certainly different types will provide a better or worse grip on different roofing materials. What's best depends on what your roofing material is, i.e. fiberglass/asphalt, slate, tile, metal, etc.
For ladder types it depends on what surface you will be placing them on. If it's a concrete sidewalk where the ladder will go vs. soft ground makes a difference in what's required to be safe. A commercial ladder and scaffold place will have the expertise to help you select the proper ladder.
Pete C.
That thought, standing on the roof, crouching or kneeling and leaning forward while the roof is headed downhill, scares the life out of me. Have you ever tried to keep your balance while standing on a hill facing downhill. One can learn to do it I'm sure, but I would want a hundred hours on a ground-level hill, instead of about 10 minutes which is what most people have in their whole lifetime put together. And even with experience, it's much more difficult than crounching or kneeling on flat land.
You'll go tumbling down and break your crown.
EVen lying on the roof facing downhill, working in the gutters scares me almost as much. I don't think anyone does it that way.
f you have to do it that way, I would skip the gutter protection or pay someone, and use a garden hose to clean out the gutters from the ladder, while your waist is about even with the gutters, or maybe your chest sometimes.
I've been up on my roof 3 times, and it's not bad. I think the pitch is 1:3, or 3:1, whichever is less pitched. But for installing gutter screws, it was far easier to stand on the ladder.
Just move it often enough that you never have to lean beyond the width of the ladder. Your arms can go wider but not more than 10 percent of your trunk.
ABSOLUTLY, buy a ladder stabilizer. Clamps on near the top of the ladder and makes it maybe twice as wide at the top. You can lean a little more, though nowhere near twice as much. And it puts you farther from the house. Depending on how deep your eave is, -- mine is the 8 inches counting the gutter, and it helps a lot to rest the ladder stabilizer on the wall --or it might not help that part at all, and you'll have to extend the ladder above the gutter and rest the stabilizer on the roof.that might help.
They make one model that is reversible and gives greater depth and less width, or vice versa. If I hadn't been given a simple one, I would have bought that one, although I think here it was only available online. IT's worth it, since you can't buy two different stabliizers that will duplicate both arrangemntes of this one. All the simple ones for sale only duplicate one arrangement.
Rise:run, typically normalized to a run of 12", so 1:3 would be 4:12 and typically represented with a "/" instead of a ":" as in 4/12 pitch.
Pete C.
Thanks. 4/12 I'll try to remember, but it's getting harder these days. (I can only imagine what 70, 80, and 90 will be like (I should live so long.)
A company that I USED to work for required a harness and lanyard for any work over eight foot off the deck.
The lanyard on the harness assembly was ten feet long.
Steve
We had a 6 ft limit and 10 ft lanyards. When I pointed it out to the safety department, I was considered a troublemaker. :-)
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Perhaps that extra length was meant to tie off upon an external hard point?
Thanks for the responses. It's hard to get people to work here. I had the people who installed the gutters for the builder come out and they quoted me 440 to put in leaf relief gutter screens and clean the gutters.
They wanted half down. So, I paid it and they said about 2 weeks. 2 weeks go by and they said it would be 7-10 more days. I envisioned they would tell me at the end of that extended period 'we meant working days'. So to avoid further aggravation I got a refund and told them they still could do it and I would pay it in full at the time.
I don't think I was being unreasonable. I can buy the materials for about 200 or so. But one side of my house (on a slope of a mountain) the gutters are 2 and 3 floors up. The 3rd floor section I could ladder up from the deck which is one story up on that side.
The other side of the house the gutters are only one floor up. It is a cape cod so that kind of helps..
It makes sense not to be on the edge leaning over. I though I'd tie a rope or secure a harness to a tree on the other side of the house opposite where I was working. I've seen cars hit trees and the car loses. So, I don't see how that could be bad. But I'm out of shape and almost 50 and 'not fond' of heights.
Even in the military (basic training) I only avoided having to go up high on the obstacle course because a 'trainee' in line in front of me fell off at the highest point. They cancelled 'that part' of basic for the rest of us because they feared we were too tramatized.. (whew)...
Knowing I have an solution I like and not being able to do it really gets under my skin. I called another company that works with leaf relief and they want double what the original co. wants.
Other companys don't retrun calls. I guess I've got too keep beating the bushes. Or maybe do the easy side at least..
So, I should not lean the ladder against the gutter but instead buy one of those braces and lean against the house or the roof? Or if I fasten a harness type rig, it has to fasten at the peak.. I can't see how.? Nailing into the shingles..?
I understand how your problem builds but I snipped it anyhow.
I see people lean the ladder against the gutters often, and I guess it doesn't hurt the gutters, but the increased width from the stabilizer was just wonderful.
I don't get that either. People have recommended cars. Lock the doors, warn everyone, and take all the keys with you.
snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote: ...
What's roof pitch, material, etc as well?
Assuming the tree is solid and you use a rated line and can be assured of length, it would undoubtedly be strong enough. Not particularly convenient probably owing to the distances and length, probably.
The other thing to consider in this is the question of where will you be at the end if the system is used? Are you going to be left hanging
20-ft off the ground swinging on the end of this rope? How are you going to get down from that point?As someone else noted, wider is better although I've done a lot of work w/ a ladder against the gutters. One thing concerns me in your description above is the stability of the bottom of the ladder at that height on what is described as a mountainside -- I'd probably want that ladder tied off at the bottom to keep it from going downhill w/ me on it if this is a very steep slope at all, as well.
For safety gear, see the following site for a feel of what's OSHA/ANSI-approved. Specifically roof anchors on this page.
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