DIY roof ladder

In detail: a ladder for repairing a roof with your own hands from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

The roof of a building is the basis for safe living in it. It protects residents from precipitation and adverse weather conditions. Preventive examinations, carried out twice a year, are required to detect even the slightest damage. But how to climb onto the roof and carry it out if the slope of the slope is very large? You will need a ladder for the roof here. I will tell you how to do it in this article.

The ladder to the roof can be used not only for preventive examinations, but also used in the following cases:

  • When there is a need to clean ventilation or chimney ducts
  • During repair work
  • For cleaning the surface from various debris or snow
  • If the roof surface is installed with materials that are very sensitive to loads and movement on them will negatively affect their structure

As evidence of the last point, I can give several examples of such products. They are modern coatings made of polymers, laid by the pouring method and some membranes. Human weight is sufficient for the local destruction of these coatings.

A high-quality ladder for roof repairs should carry maximum stability and reliability. I will tell you how to do it right a little later, but for now, let's look at their types.

The staircase can be made of almost any material, but these types are considered reference:

  • Wooden
  • Non-dismountable metal. Most often made of steel or aluminum
  • Prefabricated metal

All of the above types can be used on any type of roof, regardless of their slope and configuration.

Video (click to play).

Wooden stairs are assembled from a specific set of lumber. It includes two long boards, small-sized bars with ground corners, auxiliary parts. This type of staircase is usually placed on top of the roofing material. Their fixation takes place at several points of the roof. If it is mounted on slate or metal tiles, then the fasteners are best arranged in the lower part of the wave. To protect the tree from decay, it is best to treat it with antiseptics, and then paint it with paints and varnishes.

As for metal structures, they are erected from steel or aluminum pipes with a suitable diameter for this. They are fixed on the roof slope using special brackets. These fasteners must necessarily have rubberized pads. Factory-made staircases are made from a galvanized product, on top of which paint is applied. It acts as a protective layer and is applied by spraying. As a rule, such elements are painted black, brown or white. If you decide to order a staircase, and not buy it ready-made, then you can set this parameter to a completely different shade.

Prefabricated structures are usually made up of a small number of parts. These include wall and roof sections. Thanks to this design, they can be lifted directly from the ground. The height of the wall part should not reach the eaves of about 10 centimeters, as for the distance from the wall, the minimum value is 20 centimeters. The device of a ladder closer than this distance is prohibited.

The section of the ladder on the roof is joined to the wall ladder using the same brackets.Their pins go through the roofing, therefore, these places must be treated with moisture-resistant sealants. If you did not have enough distance to the roof overhang, then you can purchase additional ladder modules. The connection of these parts is carried out using the bolt method.

The staircase to the roof of the house may well be created on your own. Before starting the process itself, let's look at some of the nuances of this case.

To create a high-quality and sustainable structure, you will need the following materials:

  • Two long boards with a section of 16x2.5 centimeters
  • A certain number of bars with a cross section of 4x4 centimeters. Everything will depend on the distance between these elements and the length of the support boards.
  • 100mm nails

Putting the structure together, you need to remember some of the nuances.

  1. Boards should have a minimum width of 16 centimeters. If this parameter is not enough, then calculations for finding the distributed load will help determine
  2. If the plane of your roof is laid from corrugated material, then the distance between the support boards must be selected according to the distance between the waves. The structure is created of such a width so that the boards are located on the lower waves of the roofing
  3. The bars that will be installed as steps are best grinded. This will make you feel more stable on the stairs. If you place a large number of steps, then it will be very difficult for you to climb, while you will significantly increase the mass of this structure.
  4. The fasteners are ordinary nails. Their minimum length should be 100 millimeters. In the case of stitching the material through, the sharp ends must be sunk in the wood
  5. If you need the ladder to be independently held on the roof slope, then you must provide a triangular holder. It is worth noting that for greater stability, it should go to the reverse side of the roof by about a third of the slope length.

The auxiliary triangular holder is made from the same lumber as the ladder itself. As a material, you will need thick boards and long nails of about 15-20 centimeters.

A ladder for a roof with your own hands is quite simple to assemble, it is enough to have all the necessary tools and materials. It is best to make some indentations for the steps to have a stronger stability in the support boards. They can be produced using a drill with a special round nozzle. Thanks to it, you can also drill through the board and create a more beautiful structure, but you should not get carried away with holes. A large amount weakens the entire structure.

It is best to tap small pieces of a block under the created indentations. In case of damage to the main fasteners, they will give an additional emphasis and this element will not fail during operation.

Hopefully, this information will be enough to understand how to make a ladder for a roof.

The ladder for the roof, consisting of separate parts for safety reasons, is not assembled on the roof surface, but on the ground. This will allow you to get the job done in a safer environment, resulting in faster completion times. As a preparatory work, it is necessary to find the required length, and only then assemble it.

The assembly work then proceeds to welding. During this process, the ridge and base fasteners must be installed. The rest of the fasteners are placed in increments of 2 meters.

After completing the previous points, the structure is lifted onto the roof. It is worth noting that workers should be equipped with safety harnesses, tested cables, gloves and non-slip shoes.

The raised ladder is attached to the top board of the sheathing and left on it.The workers themselves start assembling the wall part of the structure. It is being erected identically to the roof. With only a slight difference. Instead of brackets, wall supports are welded. Their step is approximately 2 meters. Handrails are mounted as protection.

After the device and fastening of these parts, they are docked. This area should be equipped with additional fall protection.