The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: Ladder Safety


Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 117
Date:
Ladder Safety
Permalink  
 


Roof ladder Manufacturers emphasize the importance of roof ladder safety and maintenance. Being a firefighter and being involved with the training of firefighters for over 35 years along with my buisness experence as a chimney sweep for over 20 years and more recently as a roof cleaner I would like to share my knowledge reguarding roof ladder safety and maintenance. 
Ladders are part of your total inventory.  Just like your pumps, nozzles, hoses and other equipment you use every day.  I'm sure you would never go out on a job without first inspecting these items to make sure there were no defects.  Your ladders should also be inspected.  Ladder inspection can be seperated into two procedures.  The first, is a visual inspection. A daily visual inspection should be conducted of the rungs, beams, locks,  base plates and  the halyard to make sure they are in good condition.  look for worn areas on the rungs and beams.  If you use a ladder rack that doesn't have a positive lock down for the rungs and beams they can be damaged by road vibration. Make sure the locks work free and don't hang up.  Also check the halyard making sure it's not worn or frayed.  Bent ladders should be dicarded as in most cases they cann't be repaired to manufacurers specificatioins.  If  damage is observed the ladder should be place out of service until repaired.  Repair maintenance should be conducted prior to using a damaged ladder.  Most ladder manufactures have a web site where parts can be purchased.  Make sure you test the ladder prior to use after repairs are made.
The second part of this is ladder maintenance.  General maintenance should begin by cleaning the ladder with soap and water at least two times a year.  Take care to flush the rungs and to remove debris, road grit etc. (aluminum ladders can be cleaned with extra fine steel wool pads, fiberglass ladders ladders can be cleaned with a sponge or rag)  Use caution not to remove the lables.  Once the ladder is cleaned perform a visual inspection as listed above.    You should apply a parrafin wax or candle wax to the friction areas to lubricate the contact areas.  Log all inspections and set up a maintenance program just as you would for the oil changes on you pumps.  Additional information on ladder s can be found in N.F.P.A. 1932 standard pamphlet.
 

-- Edited by Roofguard Shingle Cleaning at 11:08, 2008-10-09

__________________
Roofguard Shingle Cleaning
&
Sun-Brite Home Maintenance

roofguard@ymail.com
sun_brite@ymail.com



guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 745
Date:
Permalink  
 

Roofguard Shingle Cleaning wrote:

Roof ladder Manufacturers emphasize the importance of roof ladder safety and maintenance. Being a firefighter and being involved with the training of firefighters for over 35 years along with my buisness experence as a chimney sweep for over 20 years and more recently as a roof cleaner I would like to share my knowledge reguarding roof ladder safety and maintenance. 
Ladders are part of your total inventory.  Just like your pumps, nozzles, hoses and other equipment you use every day.  I'm sure you would never go out on a job without first inspecting these items to make sure there were no defects.  Your ladders should also be inspected.  Ladder inspection can be seperated into two procedures.  The first, is a visual inspection. A daily visual inspection should be conducted of the rungs, beams, locks,  base plates and  the halyard to make sure they are in good condition.  look for worn areas on the rungs and beams.  If you use a ladder rack that doesn't have a positive lock down for the rungs and beams they can be damaged by road vibration. Make sure the locks work free and don't hang up.  Also check the halyard making sure it's not worn or frayed.  Bent ladders should be dicarded as in most cases they cann't be repaired to manufacurers specificatioins.  If  damage is observed the ladder should be place out of service until repaired.  Repair maintenance should be conducted prior to using a damaged ladder.  Most ladder manufactures have a web site where parts can be purchased.  Make sure you test the ladder prior to use after repairs are made.
The second part of this is ladder maintenance.  General maintenance should begin by cleaning the ladder with soap and water at least two times a year.  Take care to flush the rungs and to remove debris, road grit etc. (aluminum ladders can be cleaned with extra fine steel wool pads, fiberglass ladders ladders can be cleaned with a sponge or rag)  Use caution not to remove the lables.  Once the ladder is cleaned perform a visual inspection as listed above.    You should apply a parrafin wax or candle wax to the friction areas to lubricate the contact areas.  Log all inspections and set up a maintenance program just as you would for the oil changes on you pumps.  Additional information on ladder s can be found in N.F.P.A. 1932 standard pamphlet.
 

-- Edited by Roofguard Shingle Cleaning at 11:08, 2008-10-09



biggrinbiggrinWelcome Roof Guard!biggrinbiggrin

Glad to Have you onboard as a new company interested in furthering the Professional Roof Cleaning Industry and providing mutually beneficial information on a terrfic subject, Safety.

On that subject, we can all use more encouragement and input on here on this great new educational medium called, as you know, the Roof Cleaning Institute Of America or the RCIA, for short.

We, as members of the RCIA hope you enjoy your stay, Roof Guard Shingle Cleaning and we encourage you to post away.

Our search engine ranking are improving daily and if you would be so kind as to post as many pictures of your jobs, EACH with a different thread heading, you and your company will gain exposure nationally and at the same time you will be providing useful before and after pictures to encourage your peers and help the homeowner searching for who to call in your own local area to perform his roof cleaning.

Be sure when posting any before and after pictures of cleaning roofs that you do put your company name, Location and service Area or county and state and a phone number in your separate threads so you will be indexed by the friendly helpful crawling google and yahoo spiders who are always scouring the web for NEW content.

Again Welcome Roof Guard, Thanks for the safety and maintenence info on the subject of ladders.  Any more useful info that is of benefit to our growing rouster of roof cleaning contractors and homeowners looking for timely, pertinent information on the subject of Roof Cleaning, Safety, And Etc. is always appreciated.   smile

__________________
Roof-Cleaning-GA Blog
Roof-Cleaning-Georgia Blog


Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 37
Date:
Permalink  
 

at hc&c we use ladder jacks and walk boards. my guys like the comfort of being able to walk up and down a walkboard instead of hanging on a ladder. a few well placed walkboards on a steep pitch roof make all the difference.

__________________
Holt Construction & Cleaning
424 East Orange Street
Jesup, Ga 31546
912-302-7050


RCIA Founder

Status: Offline
Posts: 7908
Date:
Permalink  
 

YES, welcome Roof Guard to the RCIA !
The info you posted is great information for our members.
And thank you Holt for the info about walkboards too.
At RCIA, we are firm believers that ALL of us is smarter then ONE of us.
By sharing our roof cleaning knowledge, we make life better and safer for every roof cleaner.
Great to have you guys here at RCIA!
Chris

Attachments
__________________


Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa Florida

711 Westbrook

Brandon, FL 33511

813 655 8777

See our website here 

Click here for more information

Here are more of our services

Watch a short video

 




 



Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 68
Date:
Permalink  
 

Great information on ladder sagfety. Thanks.
One question for Holt - What is a "walk board"? I am not familiar with that term. I have used roof brackets with 2x10's for something level to stand on, but I have never heard the term walk boards.

__________________

Scott Thompson

Thompson's Powerwashing, LLC.
860-533-1063
tpwllc@yahoo.com
Roof Cleaning Connecticut



Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 37
Date:
Permalink  
 

a walk board is something that vinyl siding guys use. they are normally aluminum and are 16 to 24 feet long 1foot wide or wider and 5 inches thick. ladder jacks cup two rungs of a ladder and are adjustable for pitch. we set our walkboards up at roof height and let the extension ladders extend up 3 foot higher. having something stable to stand on gives you two hands to work with.

__________________
Holt Construction & Cleaning
424 East Orange Street
Jesup, Ga 31546
912-302-7050


Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 104
Date:
Permalink  
 

Lots of great ladder safety info. The one OBVIOUS thing I might add is to always tie your ladder off or find a way to stabalize it. I was a roofing contractor for several years and once I was doing an estimate for a re-roof and the wind hit just right and down went my ladder. I was 2 storys up and the homeowners were elderly and were not able to get the ladder up to me. I waited for over an hour before I was able to get help. Obviously I was by myself for the estimate which you should never be while cleaning roofs but even though you shouldnt get stuck a ladder can still fall into a window, a vehicle, or even worse on a ground guys head. Again that one should be pretty easy but I know in the past its something I overlooked as Im sure others have as well but trust me its not a mistake you make more than once. We always tie our ladders off when cleaning roofs in Cleveland and Columbus Ohio now.

__________________

Roof Cleaning Columbus Ohio 614 593 0328
Ohio Roof Cleaning  877 760 8027



Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 68
Date:
Permalink  
 

Holt Construction & Cleaning wrote:

a walk board is something that vinyl siding guys use. they are normally aluminum and are 16 to 24 feet long 1foot wide or wider and 5 inches thick. ladder jacks cup two rungs of a ladder and are adjustable for pitch. we set our walkboards up at roof height and let the extension ladders extend up 3 foot higher. having something stable to stand on gives you two hands to work with.



Thanks for the clarification. We always called them planks or staging planks. Used them alot with pump jacks when doing siding.



__________________

Scott Thompson

Thompson's Powerwashing, LLC.
860-533-1063
tpwllc@yahoo.com
Roof Cleaning Connecticut



Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 148
Date:
Permalink  
 

Uses ladders max's, don't be the dummy that puts his ladder right up to the edge tearing shingles or on gutters bending them. thats ladder 101 for any new guys.

__________________

Roof Rejuvenators
(888)366-3051
www.RoofRejuvenators.com



Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute of America Certified Roof Cleaning Specialist

Status: Offline
Posts: 1998
Date:
Permalink  
 

ladder maxs? Is that the same as a ladder stabilizer? It keeps the ladder 10" off the surface.

__________________

Charlies Roof Cleaning

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQDTM0TQ_PI 

                SERVING BOTH NASSAU AND SUFFOLK COUNTY

               FREE ESTIMATES / SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!

                       516-763-4108   /   631-433-6449





 



Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 117
Date:
Permalink  
 

Steep roofs create a challenge to all.  I find it almost impossible to walk a roof with over a 8/12 pitch.   My solution to this problem is a singlewall ladder and a roof hook.  The roof hook secuely attaches to the ridge of the roof and additionally besecured with a rope.  The ridge hook is attached between 2 rungs on the ladder then the ladder is slid up over the ridge of the roof and flipped over so that the hook is over the ridge.  
These hooks are available at home improvement stores and roofing supply stores for around $30.00 

__________________
Roofguard Shingle Cleaning
&
Sun-Brite Home Maintenance

roofguard@ymail.com
sun_brite@ymail.com



Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 117
Date:
Permalink  
 

Here is a pic of the roof hook I useladderhook.jpg

__________________
Roofguard Shingle Cleaning
&
Sun-Brite Home Maintenance

roofguard@ymail.com
sun_brite@ymail.com



Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 117
Date:
Permalink  
 

I would like to make a clarification on the roof hook.  The hook is designed for composit shingles only.  Not tile or metal roofs.  Also caution must be used not to bend a ridge vent if installed.  The hook is designed to go over these vents and secure to the opposite side of the roof. 

__________________
Roofguard Shingle Cleaning
&
Sun-Brite Home Maintenance

roofguard@ymail.com
sun_brite@ymail.com



Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 27
Date:
Permalink  
 

Do you have a picture of the roof hook in action? Thanks in advance.
Frankie

__________________


Guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 210
Date:
Permalink  
 

Awesome info on ladder Safety. Thanks guys!

__________________

MJFulton Services
Non pressure Roof & Exterior Cleaning
Charlottesville Virginia
434 906-0414





guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 1202
Date:
Permalink  
 

Some really helpful information in here. Thanks, guys!

__________________
Extreme Cleaning Solutions (410) 980-1053
Phil Rogers
Click Here to View Our Website
Click Here for an Instant Quote
Roof Cleaning and Pressure Washing in Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland


guest

Status: Offline
Posts: 2083
Date:
Permalink  
 

Check this thread out as well Phil.

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=123190&subForumID=436721&p=3&a=18&commentID=28122219&topicID=27204711&commentPage=0

__________________

Bill Booz

Accuwash LLC

Cell-240-425-2845

 

Page 1 of 1  sorted by
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard