Jeff: I think any new residential house, the roofer should automatically put in what we
call ridge ones and ridge twos.
They're just an anchor that go up at the ridge, and they�re a stainless steel strap, and
then there's a little tiny d-ring on each side.
So, if you got somebody that's going to go up there and do your Christmas lights, clean
your gutters, they have somewhere to anchor off to.
The other thing is for a lot of the new commercial buildings, we're putting in permanent roof
anchors systems.
And BAM, put it up there; there's always somewhere to tie off.
But especially for a maintenance guy, going up there, maybe all he's got to do is go clean,
you know, a scupper out.
It's full leaves and it's gaining water.
So, he's got to go to the edge, you know, so he just hooks off, takes his rope, lets
it out, lets go, cleans it out, off he goes.
And you know, we have a lot of anchors now that if you have a $500,000 TPO roof, you
think they're going to let me put 40 screws in it?
We got water bladder anchors, and we got what's called an angel anchor.
The angel anchor is a set of weights, and they're mobile.
We got carts now that are mobile.
The only problem is, like with a cart, you got to have a crane to get it up there because
it's heavy, but it's mobile and it won't penetrate unless you fall.
Again, the numbers.
People don't do the math.
A water bladder takes 100 gallons of water.
A gallon of water weighs 8.2 pounds.
That's 820 pounds of weight, dead weight in a six by six area.
You better make sure your structure can hold it, because if it doesn't, it's going through,
and it's taking you with it.
Again the numbers, and the mistakes they make.
Trever: When talking about fall protection anchors, there's a wide assortment of different
brands, different styles, different designs.
The ones that we typically use, these are anchors that when we first start a job, we
hook up, normally use duplex nails, and we install them per manufacturer�s specifications.
And that is very important on any anchor that you want to use and want to install, that
you always read the manufacturer's specifications prior to installing it.
So, guys are working on the roof, this is what we install, this is what we use during
the whole roofing process.
And then when we're done with the job, towards the end, we're roofing out to the ridge, we
always leave a permanent anchor.
And these are called hitch clips, which is what we currently use, and these install underneath
the shingles.
And then this is what's left on the roof, and then we remove these when we're done with
the roof.
And so, what this does for us when we come back to clean the roof, or if we need to inspect
something, this anchor is already set up for my guys to be able to set their ladder, walk
straight up with their harness on, and clip in and not have to remove any roofing to set
an anchor.
So, this is just a standard practice within our company that we leave these on every single
job.
Again, when you install permanent anchors, ensure that you read the manufacturer's specifications
when installing these.
Matt: There's multiple types of anchors.
You can anchor in different positions depending on the roof that you're working on; will kind
of dictate the type of anchor that you need to use.
We call them brackets; there's a multitude of options when it comes to tie off.
You've got hitch clips, you've got the full double-sided d-rings, you've got the single
sided d-rings, you've got the rafter brackets that you can attach, especially on new construction.
Some of them are permanent, some of them are temporary.
So, it really depends on what part of that roof you're doing.
If it's new construction, or re-roof, whether the customer wants to see those safety devices
left, or if they want to have them taken off, we always recommend that the customers leave
them because whoever goes up on that roof has to be tied off.
So, we recommend that they leave them there for future work.
When it comes to the installation of your roof anchors, again, you have to follow the
manufacturer�s guidelines.
They will specify whether it needs to be 5/8�s plywood with blocking underneath, or whether
it needs to go directly into a rafter, how many fasteners because based on the pole rating
of that anchor, different fasteners are needed, different number of fasteners are needed,
and so each manufacturer and each application is going to have its own requirements that
you have to know, and you have to follow those specifications.