Many homeowners enjoy performing their outdoor home care tasks on their own. When your home features beautiful cedar shingle roofing, it will require more maintenance than your average roofing materials. Before you perform your cedar roof maintenance, consider these safety tips for using a ladder.
Create the Right Environment
Climbing on a ladder can be a dangerous task if the environment isn’t suitable. For starters, it is important to place the ladder on a firm, level surface. In addition, it is best not to climb when it is windy or in other bad weather.
Position the Ladder Correctly
In addition to choosing a firm, flat surface on which to rest your ladder, straight ladders require particular positioning for the best stability. For every three feet of ladder, it is necessary to position the bottom of the ladder one foot from the wall. For instance, a six foot ladder should be placed two feet from the house.
Plan Ahead
To prevent unnecessary trips up and down the ladder, it is important to plan ahead for what you need. Take everything you will use with you and place it on the roof. The more often you climb up and down, the greater the risk of injury.
Don’t Climb Past Your Waist
If you aren’t climbing on your cedar shingle roofing, there’s no need to climb the ladder so the top rung is below your waist. Ladders are designed to balance while you are climbing up one side. If you go too high up the ladder, you can throw off the center of balance and cause the ladder to fall.
Keep Everything in Reach
When performing cedar roof maintenance yourself, it is important to keep everything within reach. Leaning away from the ladder can also throw it off balance, leading to a serious fall. It is important to keep the ladder as straight as possible.
The proper use of ladders is necessary if you plan to perform cedar roof maintenance yourself. Cedar shingle roofing requires more care than any other type of roof. While you can always hire someone to perform the work for you, those who prefer to do it themselves can complete many of the same tasks with the help of these ladder safety tips.
If you are uncomfortable performing cedar roof maintenance yourself, contact us. Our Ridgefield professionals are ready to help.