Mastering Roof Inspections: Accessing the Roof, Part 1

ROOF SAFETY 

In deciding whether or not to walk a roof, the ability to accurately evaluate it is a skill that can be developed and improved with study and practice. There’s no formula, and a number of things have to be taken into consideration. Materials and conditions will be different on different homes, in different parts of North America, and at different times of the year.

Although these articles will give you the basics on which to build, you should make an effort to learn about materials and conditions you’re likely to encounter in the areas in which you work. Some of the important things to consider when you’re at the home site and have to decide whether or not to walk the roof are your own tolerance for risk, the roof pitch, the exposure, the condition of the roof-covering materials, and the equipment you have. Let’s take a look at each of these in more detail.

Risk Tolerance

Each year, people are injured or killed falling from roofs. In addition to the difficulty of finding a safe place to mount the roof is a fear of heights, which most people have, to some degree. For most people, confidence grows with experience, and they find that their fear of heights begins to fade as they spend more time walking roofs.

Your skills at walking roofs will improve on two different levels.

On one level, you’ll begin to develop a better understanding of what combinations of materials and conditions are safe.

On another level, you’ll have a better idea of the limitations of your own agility, including your sense of balance, your reaction time, and any limitations to your range of movement.

Fear creates tension in your body, and tension interferes with your sense of balance.  Learning to relax while walking the roof will help improve your sense of balance.

Pitch

All other things being equal, steeper roofs are more dangerous to walk than flatter roofs, but even low-slope roofs can be dangerous.

Damp, moss-covered wood roofs and shingles, and especially metal roofs, can be slippery enough to cause you to slide right off even a low-slope roof.

Typical Maximum Pitches Walked

Here are some examples of typical maximum pitches walked by inspectors who are comfortable on roofs:

• asphalt shingles:  8&12 for single-story homes, and 6&12 for two-story homes;
• wood roofs:  6&12; and
• metal roofs:  5&12.

Roof Boots