UKC

Finally found a use for years of climbing: repairing my roof.

The ridge tiles seem to have taken a bit of a battering over the winter and some, maybe all, need to be re-cemented, or maybe I'll go for a dry ridge system.

Has anyone carried out repairs on their roof using climbing kit or techniques? Give that the cost of a roof ladder is in the region of £150 I can see saving myself quite a bit of cash by going down the DIY/climbing route.

Anyone done DIY on their roof and got any tips or ideas to share?

Thanks

In reply to stp:
One important tip - your roof is unlikely to support your weight in a single spot and tiles cost money! Roof ladders do have their uses.

In reply to stp:

I just slung a rope round the chimney stack when I reset my ridge. I have a shallow pitch stone flagged roof though!

Can't you just hire a roof ladder?

In reply to stp:

I had to rescue a teetering chimney pot in a gale once (it was massive and threatening to topple and go though the roof). It got quite involved. One ladder up against the house. Belay through bedroom window as stuggled to get roof ladder up onto the roof in the gale. Belay over the overhang to get established on the roof ladder (shorter than roof). Climb up, chuck rope down other side and get another belay. Place slings around chimney as runner and climb chimney. Get established on top of chminey without dislodging chimney pot. Place chimney pot (at least four times heavier than expected) in large burlap sack and lower to roof. Shuffle along ridge line to roof ladder and descend with sack. Lower sack to ground. Reverse overhang and recover roof ladder. Descend, pull rope down and retire for a stiff drink.

In reply to MHutch:
You can hire a roof ladder for £20. If my roof got a guidebook description, it would probably fall under the title 'mossy esoterica' - and there's a good reason why that kind of route can be less than appealing.

I went out onto the ridge once to fix an aerial, then abseiled off the stack. Not an experience I'll be repeating. Bit like spending three hours on the last belay of Little Cham, only surrounding by dirty, insecure rock and slightly rubbish belays.

In reply to stp:

Not to repair the roof, no, but certainly to repair the TV ariel.

In reply to stp: Does no harm to tie in- if your roof has a north side, it'll be slippy as a slippy slope on national slipping day. Roof ladders spread your weight too, so are still needed!
I sling a ratchet strap around a chimney breast and clip into this before 'abseiling' along the roof. Not perfect, but at least I won't hit the ground if I slip, which reminds me, I have jackdaws to evict from one of our nine chimeys...

In reply to stp:

The problem is that to repair the ridge of the roof you'll be hard put to find a high enough thing to belay on! I've worked on a tower using harness and jumars but the ropes were attached above me on a very solid iron post - it used to have a canon attached to it so was quite solid enough, on the average roof you are only likely to have a chimney stack, which won't really help much once you get along the ridge. It should stop you hitting the deck but you'll take off a few tiles on the way down... so falling needs to be avoided. If your roof's not too steep and fairly solid you might get away with it, but if this were the case it might not need repairing.

If you do beg or borrow ladders I'd still use a harness and rope, attached on the ground on the opposite side of the roof as a safety measure.

In reply to stp: I usually fix an old rope right over the house using a 13 metre fishing pole and with this tied off use ascenders to move up the roof on a couple of long thin cushions to fix the slates back on my nail dead roof. I can access the whole roof quite easily and the cushions prevent any damage to the slates. It ought to be re roofed but that is for an other day

I know it sounds odvious, so no offence intended but be wary of the chimney stack being unstable, I wouldn't use it as your anchor if you can avoid it, Ive seen the mess a falling stack creates.....wouldn't it be easier to go to the local hire place? I reckon a ladder for a day would be pretty cheap and potentially save quite a head ache, possible a literal head ache to!

In reply to stp:

You can get roof hooks for ladders, you know, that you hook over the ridge so you can use the ladder...

Buy second ladder off ebay, fit hooky bit, do job, get money back by selling ladder and hook on ebay!

In reply to stp:

With climbing shoes and harness I padded up my roof (VS 4a??) to the ridge, then slung a rope around the chimney stack on the other side. I used my belay device and prusik to then secure myself. The aim of this was to cean my roof as it was covered in moss. I wire brushed the moss off then used a yard brush to sweep it.

Towards the end I was walking around quite confidently.

Getting down was interesting as I had to solo down as the rope wouldnt pull around the stack.

In reply to stp:

I used to get up on the flat roof with a ladder, put a rope around the chimney and then abseil down to paint the wooden panels, using a prussic to allow hands free control of the rope and both hands to doing the painting. Used to get funny looks from passers by.

In reply to stp:

Used home made roof ladders on several occasions, fairly easy and cheap to make, and you can over engineer it to you own level of paranoia.

In reply to stp:

Thanks for all the tips. The home made ladder and ladder hooks sound good ideas.

But how does one manage things like buckets of cement? I can actually get out on to the ridge quite easily - out the velux, a quick half mantle and I'm there. (And the warning about the chimney stacks was right - another repair there is in order unfortunately.)

I've got an idea in my head of some kind of portable table straddled across the ridge to put things on. Just wondering what other people do?

In reply to stp:

Fire Service method: tie figure of 8 knots on the bight every metre or so in your rope in the central section of rope which will be over the roof. Go up a ladder to the eaves then throw one end of the line over the ridge of the roof so that it will go right over and down the other side and down to the ground.

Then secure both ends of the line on the ground on either side of the house to strong anchors in a belay device that can be locked off securely, and pull thru (can use prussiks to tighten) until line is fairly taut. Climb with 2 daisy chains with krab/ scaffold hooks etc and clip one into fig 8 loop, climb on and clip next one, then unclip previous etc - so you are always attached.

If you slip off you will ideally want a mate on the ground who can belay you by paying out the line from the opposite side of the house to lower you down to the ground on the side of the roof you slipped down.

Still would be used with a roof ladder as, as mentioned, it spreads weight and minimises damage to tiles/ slates and also gives you firm footing as roofs can be slippy!

Be careful doing it near the edge of a roof on the side of the house as the whole line could be pulled over the end and be of no use, or worse take you with it.

Is rarely used in reality as it is time consuming to set up, but is deemed safest way to work on a roof other than an aerial platform.

Hope that makes sense!

In reply to stp:

Abseil from a helicopter?

In reply to stp: Just attach your ropes to the crane you hire Steve!)

In reply to woolsack: I've used a very similar technique - apart from the fishing rod. I had to throw a thinner line over attached to a piece of wood, then haul an old climbing rope over. Did a slate repair job a few years back, and it's time to refit the ridge tiles. I have a piece of heavy duty conveyor belt which I use as a mat (was actually made as a "wing mat" for aircraft repairs).
Denzil

In reply to Denzil:

A mate did this on his parents house (in an effort to fix a loose slate), except instead of fishing line and wood he used a lump hammer and climbing rope. The hammer fell short and went straight through the skylight.

In reply to smollett: My Dad did something like this to put a line over the roof in order to haul the roof ladder up, but he forgot that at the other side of the house was the telephone line, so the rope went over the house a bit too far and wrapped itself around the telephone line the other side. Cue much faffing and swearing trying to get that untangled before trying again, a little less enthusiastically!

In reply to stp:
Demolished a small chimney at the back of the house once. Soloed it.