A novice is totally discombobulated--I need advice!!!
#1
06-11-13, 06:58 PM
A novice is totally discombobulated--I need advice!!!
I rarely have gone up on my asphalt shingle roof, but I was forced to in order to cut some branches that were brushing up against it. I hated going close to the edge, but I managed to overcome my fear, and clip the branches.
But what took me totally by surprise was that although I was wearing heavy jeans and playtex-type gloves on my hands, I got serious burns on both my palms from the heat of the roof--and my legs were made very uncomfortable too.
I was doing this at about 11:15 AM.
Clearly, I can avoid this problem by doing my next branch-trimming near dawn, but I'm wondering how roofers cope with this problem. I was only on the roof for a few minutes, and my hands were really damaged. And incidentally, how is it that I've never heard of this problem--it's true that I'm far removed from the do-it-yourself world, but I would have thought that sometime in my life I'd have heard of this phenomenon.
But what took me totally by surprise was that although I was wearing heavy jeans and playtex-type gloves on my hands, I got serious burns on both my palms from the heat of the roof--and my legs were made very uncomfortable too.
I was doing this at about 11:15 AM.
Clearly, I can avoid this problem by doing my next branch-trimming near dawn, but I'm wondering how roofers cope with this problem. I was only on the roof for a few minutes, and my hands were really damaged. And incidentally, how is it that I've never heard of this problem--it's true that I'm far removed from the do-it-yourself world, but I would have thought that sometime in my life I'd have heard of this phenomenon.
#2
06-11-13, 08:10 PM
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Wet side of Washington state.
Posts: 16,321
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Asphalt roofs should be avoided during hot weather as the heat softens the asphalt and they are easily damaged when hot. If you have no choice then you need to wear heavy leather gloves and don't allow any part of your body to be in contact with the roof any longer than absolutely necessary.
#3
06-11-13, 08:37 PM
Group Moderator
You can also choose to work on a cloudy day. When I've needed to do some window or fascia work on top of a roof in the summer, I've occasionally asked the homeowner for a garden hose. Letting cool water run on the shingles and then standing on wet shingles is a lot better than standing on hot shingles that get marked up and ruined by foot traffic on a hot day.
Roofers usually try to shingle fast enough that they aren't on hot shingles. Take them out of the package... nail them down, move on. If the shingles are getting too hot to stand on, they probably aren't moving fast enough. But yeah, smart roofers start early and quit early when it's blazing hot. Many will hit it again later in the afternoon when the sun gets lower.
Roofers usually try to shingle fast enough that they aren't on hot shingles. Take them out of the package... nail them down, move on. If the shingles are getting too hot to stand on, they probably aren't moving fast enough. But yeah, smart roofers start early and quit early when it's blazing hot. Many will hit it again later in the afternoon when the sun gets lower.
#4
06-12-13, 03:45 AM
I remember an extra hot summer in fla where the roofers [new construction] started at daylight, quit about 10AM and then came back late afternoon.
As Furd mentioned there is a real possibility of damaging the shingles when they are hot!
As Furd mentioned there is a real possibility of damaging the shingles when they are hot!
#5
06-12-13, 05:57 AM
Thanks guys for your responses. Wow, I'm amazed at what I learned. So I guess that the reason that sophisticated methods for insulating the hands and other body parts from the heat of the roof have never been developed is that if the roof is really hot you shouldn't be walking on it anyway because of the risk of damaging the shingles. I never knew that heat made shingles vulnerable. In fact, I once read the opposite, that cold weather made shingles brittle and you should never walk on a roof on a frigid day. Of course, both temperature extremes could compromise the integrity of asphalt shingles.
