MittensKitten
New Member
I'm curious about putting together a climbing/ fall protection kit for roofing repairs and possibly tree pruning.
From what I've read, the typical roofing fall protection kit "compliance in a can" is meant to be anchored to rafters over top of the ridge beam. I'm not sure why this system is used considering you are climbing off your ladder and up the roof without anything protecting you and then doing the same thing after you remove your anchor and descend. I'm still wondering if I'm missing something?
Running a rope over your roof to an anchor on the ground makes more sense to me because you can be protected from the ground up. I understand that this would put a lot of wear and tear on your rope, but I don't see many other negative aspects about it. I've seen some rope access guys using this technique on youtube.
A stack exhange thread addressed this question and the answer was:
"If you're not a climber, then don't buy a climbing rope for doing roof repairs. If you're going to buy a rope for a very specific job, then you should get the right equipment for the job.
For about the same cost as a climbing rope you could get a full roofers kit that comes with a:
Unless your plan is to use repairing your roof as an excuse to invest in some climbing gear so you can get into climbing after, then I would recommend buying a roofers kit, and asking your roofing questions on this SE site.
If you are using the roof as an excuse to buy climbing gear (I come up with any excuse I can), then what you want to do is get a good single rope that's >10mm of whatever length you want, a chest harness, a personal anchor (lanyard/sling) and a mechanical ascender. Anchor one end of the rope to the ground on the opposite side of the house you're working on, either to a tree or your truck or something that's a lot heavier than you, then simply throw the rope all the way over the top of the house. Don't tie into the rope, instead put the ascender on the rope and tie into your harness with your personal anchor, then run it through a biner on your chest harness and clip it into the ascender. Voila, you've just rigged your own roofers kit out of climbing gear."
I work doing maintenance at a school and old church and I climb ladders all the time. I'm on roofs and in bell towers pretty frequently. This is an old school sort of environment and there is an old school approach to safety. I wouldn't necessarily use my equipment at work, I'm just saying that I spend time in high places and work with ladders frequently. I've never climbed before, but I'm that sort of person. I only weigh 145 and can pull up my body weight do a lot of mountain biking (that sort of person).
So I'm not a climber but I would prefer fall protection from the ground up. Do you guys have any solutions? Could I use the roofers kit with a longer length of rope and achieve the over the roof technique? Could a tree climbing saddle double as roof fall protection with the chest harness as suggested in the forum post I copied?
Thanks for any help.
From what I've read, the typical roofing fall protection kit "compliance in a can" is meant to be anchored to rafters over top of the ridge beam. I'm not sure why this system is used considering you are climbing off your ladder and up the roof without anything protecting you and then doing the same thing after you remove your anchor and descend. I'm still wondering if I'm missing something?
Running a rope over your roof to an anchor on the ground makes more sense to me because you can be protected from the ground up. I understand that this would put a lot of wear and tear on your rope, but I don't see many other negative aspects about it. I've seen some rope access guys using this technique on youtube.
A stack exhange thread addressed this question and the answer was:
"If you're not a climber, then don't buy a climbing rope for doing roof repairs. If you're going to buy a rope for a very specific job, then you should get the right equipment for the job.
For about the same cost as a climbing rope you could get a full roofers kit that comes with a:
- 5 point safety harness
- 50ft lifeline
- anchor plate
- 3' shock absorbing lanyard:
Unless your plan is to use repairing your roof as an excuse to invest in some climbing gear so you can get into climbing after, then I would recommend buying a roofers kit, and asking your roofing questions on this SE site.
If you are using the roof as an excuse to buy climbing gear (I come up with any excuse I can), then what you want to do is get a good single rope that's >10mm of whatever length you want, a chest harness, a personal anchor (lanyard/sling) and a mechanical ascender. Anchor one end of the rope to the ground on the opposite side of the house you're working on, either to a tree or your truck or something that's a lot heavier than you, then simply throw the rope all the way over the top of the house. Don't tie into the rope, instead put the ascender on the rope and tie into your harness with your personal anchor, then run it through a biner on your chest harness and clip it into the ascender. Voila, you've just rigged your own roofers kit out of climbing gear."
I work doing maintenance at a school and old church and I climb ladders all the time. I'm on roofs and in bell towers pretty frequently. This is an old school sort of environment and there is an old school approach to safety. I wouldn't necessarily use my equipment at work, I'm just saying that I spend time in high places and work with ladders frequently. I've never climbed before, but I'm that sort of person. I only weigh 145 and can pull up my body weight do a lot of mountain biking (that sort of person).
So I'm not a climber but I would prefer fall protection from the ground up. Do you guys have any solutions? Could I use the roofers kit with a longer length of rope and achieve the over the roof technique? Could a tree climbing saddle double as roof fall protection with the chest harness as suggested in the forum post I copied?
Thanks for any help.