Taking a fall

We all know KW fell of the roof.

How many others has this happened to?

My good self for one. Was putting an air conditioner on the roof of the house I built on the farm. Mate said "Better to take your sandals off, You might slip." All was well until I hit a patch of sweat, Went down feet first and, like an idiot, grabbed the gutter in the vain hope that it would stop my fall.

Pigs ear!! Every finger and thumb had the tops sliced so a trip the hospital for stitches with hands wrapped in tea towels.

To rub salt int the wounds the wife was away and during the 2nd night of useless hands Some bastard or two entered the house ( I was doped on pain killers) and stole my TV, ate my fruit, took the washing off the line and off.

Arthur, that was bad luck, but a good advice,use the next time a baseball bat to scare them off. I have one in the hall, and for sure use that thing if neccesary.
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During preping and pianting bus and coach roof's a couple of times wet sanding nothing to grab slow slip thank goodness we had trestles along the side still a body bounce. Another time no trestle slow slide offf again, some bastwurd had moved the ladder :~ I was trying to step onto. I was hanging onto the little drip rail and then the window bellowing out for assistance dangling just 5ft off the ground but like all workshop floors shyte everywhere. One of the fellows came to my rescue just as the window rubber was giving out phsing himself at my prediciment:-.

Mind you when a company I worked for we were building a 40ft apex extention I slid down the steel girder frame gloves on hands just so I didn't miss out on lunch. :doh:

As you guys know, working on roofs was what I did for a living. I fell only once but managaed to stay on the roof but broke my wrist in the process. My brother in law who did the same work as me, fell from a roof about 10 years ago and unfortunatley didn't survive the fall, he died in hospital a week later. He was 57 years old.
Liz, my wife, also fell from a roof while helping me and suffered sever injuries and was in hospital for 3 weeks and n a wheelchair for months after. She was lucky, she fracutered her back in 2 places and broke her shoulder and hips and rutpured her Spleen which had to be removed. She has recoverd well but has limited use of her shoulder even after a recent operation to try and correct the problem.

If you have to work on a roof, all I can say is, be extra careful. It only takes one slip to change the rest of your life.

:C Jeez! Might stay on the ground. But my mum managed to break her ankle falling over a tiny bump in the path.:doh:

And someone eate your fruit Artme? :oo: Better look for a burglar without scurvy.:rolleyes:

Our current (architect designed....hmm) house has a colorbond roof with 30 degree pitch. That's just too steep for me to climb on, so we have to get the professional roof cleaners in every few years to clean off the black mould that seems to accumulate along ridgelines, etc.

I reckon I've got one more new house in me before I get too old to care what I live in.....the next one will have a skillion roof at as shallow an angle as I can get away with, precisely for ease of access and cleaning. I'm thinking a 10 degree pitch would be enough, giving sufficient building width without the 'high side' wall becoming too high.

Any suggestions as to minimum pitch for a skillion roof, and why?

Never fallen off a roof.

In a past life I used to stage manage for a couple of theatre companies and managed to walk (fall) off stages when walking backwards to check sets and lights.

It may be a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll but it's a bloody short way to the bottom of the orchestra pit.:rolleyes:

Fortunately most damage was to the pride.

Haven't fallen off a roof, but I've fallen through one.

Descent was stopped by a tile batten between the legs. I swear the pitch of my voice was a few octaves higher for several weeks after that!

All the safety stat sites show that working at height (including on a ladder) is the most dangerous sort of work you can undertake.

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Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Our current (architect designed....hmm) house has a colorbond roof with 30 degree pitch. That's just too steep for me to climb on, so we have to get the professional roof cleaners in every few years to clean off the black mould that seems to accumulate along ridgelines, etc.

I reckon I've got one more new house in me before I get too old to care what I live in.....the next one will have a skillion roof at as shallow an angle as I can get away with, precisely for ease of access and cleaning. I'm thinking a 10 degree pitch would be enough, giving sufficient building width without the 'high side' wall becoming too high.

Any suggestions as to minimum pitch for a skillion roof, and why?

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Trimdeck or monoclad can be 3 deg or more. Kliplock 1 deg, but I dont recommend it. I reckon 4 deg is about as low as you need to go. IMHO.

Just doing the sums for my roof triangle.......errr.....tan x = opposite/adjacent.....it's all coming back to me ! :rolleyes:

For even a 6 degree pitch skillion roof, and a building 10m wide, that makes the high side of the roof about 1m higher than the low side. Since it would mainly be a window panel on the north facing side that sounds manageable. Still have to work out the overhang at the front based on sun angles and all that jazz.

I just didn't know if there were any other practical considerations that dictate minimum roof angle for drainage, etc.

The other appeal of a skillion roof is that the guttering is greatly simplified - only need an oversize gutter running along the bottom edge of the roof, therefore much cheaper plumbing !

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Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Just doing the sums for my roof triangle.......errr.....tan x = opposite/adjacent.....it's all coming back to me ! :rolleyes:

For even a 6 degree pitch skillion roof, and a building 10m wide, that makes the high side of the roof about 1m higher than the low side. Since it would mainly be a window panel on the north facing side that sounds manageable. Still have to work out the overhang at the front based on sun angles and all that jazz.

I just didn't know if there were any other practical considerations that dictate minimum roof angle for drainage, etc.

The other appeal of a skillion roof is that the guttering is greatly simplified - only need an oversize gutter running along the bottom edge of the roof, therefore much cheaper plumbing !

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Would need to pay attention to very good insulation on a Skillion roof.

Don't believe the bumph about cheap plumbing!!:no::no: Try getting a large section gutter and see how you go!!

In commercial applications, say a 10 metre skillion roof, it is possible to just use the off the shelf larger gutter profile rather than having a custom gutter folded. Downpipes at 6 metre intervals. 100 x 75 downpipes. This can look a bit chunky in a domestic application. There is also a need to ensure the the pipework in ground can handle the volume. Consult a hydraulic engineer.

Cheers

With regard to insulation. We use 50mm foil backed fibreglass wool over mesh. It really is only to stop condensation forming on the underside of the roof. Only has an R value of 1.5. There are better, and more expensive, products on the market. A mate of mine used a high aluminium content foil paper, 80% aly I think, and boy does that make a difference. The better the product you use under the roof, the less you will spend in heating or cooling your home. Don't scrimp here would be my strong advice.

Cheers

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To rub salt int the wounds the wife was away and during the 2nd night of useless hands Some bastard or two entered the house ( I was doped on pain killers) and stole my TV, ate my fruit, took the washing off the line and off.

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Artme,

get a very big nasty dog, mine is a 46kg german shepherd

Enfield Guy - many thanks for the info, more grist to the mill !

I've come up with a sneaky way of hiding large diameter (150mm) downpipes within an extension of the rear wall, fed by an oversize gutter hanging off the back edge of the skillion roof. I intend the roof to have a large overhang at the rear of the house, keeping all water/guttering well away from walls if it overflows. As an aside, many modern houses have a design of gutter which easily overflows into the eave space.....

Your comment about 'pipework in ground' raised a chuckle. Just about every house I have ever owned has had multiple 90mm downpipes feeding into...... a single 90mm pipe below ground. Who thought that one up? How can one 90mm pipe possibly handle the water from multiple pipes the same size? So.....in heavy rain, all the gutter downpipes back up and overflow. No.....in my brave new work of house design, I'd have a much bigger pipe below ground.

Thnaks again for the info re insulation - much appreciated :2tsup:

Correct about the multiple 90's into a 90. Simple rule, any intersection needs to have a diameter capable of taking the sum of the area of the pipes behind it. Therefor, 2 x 10cm sq pipes need to feed into a 20 cm sq pipe. Youo can do the numbers yourself if you like and at the end of the day you are governed by the size of connection to main the the council requires / allows. Consult a hydraulic engineeer.

Cheers
Vrooooooom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you say, that means the gutter plumbing on most houses is never going to work. I'm an electronic engineer, and even I can work out that 5 x 90mm downpipes feeding a 90mm inground pipe can't be right :rolleyes:. Apparently the people who built and certified my existing house think that it is.........

We're rural here - town water supply, but biocycle + an inground rainwater tank (for garden use). Our roof water all goes into the inground tank, and the overflow from that into our dam further down the paddock. The next house will also likely be on acres, so there should be no restriction on the size of inground stormwater pipe feeding our own tank?

Of course, I'll be careful to make sure that the overflow pipe from the inground tank is at least as big as the inlet......:p

Getting a bit off the roofing topic here, but I appreciate the information. Having built three homes with 'traditional' roofing/gutter designs over the years, the engineer in me thinks that there just has to be a better way ! I'm sitting in an architect designed home, built by a professional builder, certified by council.....and with downpipes that back up and overflow under even moderate rainfall :((

I might sketch out the roof design I have in mind and put it up here for comment......

Cheers !

It's lifes falls that can do most damage scared where no one can see. I am not relating to the Ego either.

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Originally Posted by tea lady

:C Jeez! Might stay on the ground. But my mum managed to break her ankle falling over a tiny bump in the path.:doh:

And someone eate your fruit Artme? :oo: Better look for a burglar without scurvy.:rolleyes:

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:lolabove:


Artme,

get a very big nasty dog, mine is a 46kg german shepherd[/QUOTE]

Don't live there anymore and didn't have a dog at the time.

Over here we have the pleasant company of Nina, a beautiful Rottweiller with a great roaring bark.
The other night some of the local dogs were yelping and barking in competition with the local stray mutts. Nina set to work with her Stentorian roar and everything settled down very smartly.

Pity the poor burglar here.

Back on track with falls: First wife's grandfather was an old sea dog. Sailed round the horn under sail, worked on sailing ships taking kero to China for J.D.Rockerfella ( tried to spell that 7times and the spellchecker still says it's wrong:~) One time while furling sails he fell 80 feet to the deck.

Captain got a couple of blokes to stand him up, and remarkably the spine was not effected. A day in bed and back on the job!!!:o

Died at 91.

With trees too close to the house, and gutter guards useless against pine needles, and close to 2 feet overhang, I removed the gutters; weren't properly pitched anyway. Also ensured the ground slopes away from the house, with satisfactory surface drainage. First thing they teach in Civil Engineering school is "water goes downhill."

I've fallen from a few motorcycles, and seven airplanes, with parachute assist. The trick is to roll into the ground. Bumped my helmet once, though.

"Rockefeller," BTW.

Cheers,
Joe

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Originally Posted by joe greiner

"Rockefeller," BTW.

Cheers,
Joe

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Ta!:B:B

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Originally Posted by joe greiner

I've fallen from a few motorcycles, and seven airplanes, with parachute assist. The trick is to roll into the ground. Bumped my helmet once, though.

"Rockefeller," BTW.

Cheers,
Joe

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Fallen off motorbikes :rolleyes: yep and a few spills, slides no broken bones, forget to put stand down when at service station:B

Fallen from plane with parachute assist :? Jump with chute or was the chute open and you were dragged out . The only way to fly free fall from 30000ft how I wish:U

Sport parachuting, not accidental. When I was in the Army, and young and immortal. Usually about 3000ft, static line, no free fall. Second best sensation ever.

Cheers,
Joe

Agreed to help my boy fix the leak in his roof. When I arrived he was already up on top, so I carried the first lot of tools up the ladder and went to get the rest. Dopey me hadn't checked the ladder - son hadn't used a ladder on uneven ground before and had chocked BOTH legs on multiple bits of wood. Needless to say, the legs of the ladder slipped and my leg caught in the top rungs while the rest of me continued earthwards. 4 metres later, my neck plowed through the rose bushes into the garden soil while my back was arrested by the garden edging. The ambulance crew found no reason not to move me and an Xray the following day revealed no apparent damage. - Except constant back pain!
Six years later, a bone scan - " Well, you don't have any cancer in your bones, but....When did you break your back?"
Pain remains but at least I now know why.
Cheers
Graeme

Ouch!!!!!