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Have you ever seen a gigantic tree come down with a mighty "thwack" after being felled by a lumberjack? (big plumes of dust etc from the sides as it falls). Well that's how I came down when I tried to do exactly what you're describing. I had exactly the same dilemma about 18 months ago. Guttering blocked and overflowing, can't put a ladder up, single storey lean-to below.
Mistake number one was choosing to do it after recent rainfall. Mistake number two was doing it in slippers. Mistake number 3 was doing it whilst Mrs T had nipped out to the shops. Mistake number 4 was leaving my mobile phone on the kitchen table. Mistake number 5 was climbing out through an upstairs window onto the lean-to roof without using some sort of safety harness-cum-airbag-cum-helicopter device. The climbing out bit was easy. The difficult bit was letting go of the window frame and getting up from the crouching position. As I was about 75% vertical in position, there was a tiny, barely noticeable cracking noise under my left foot. I froze. Looked down and in about 3 milliseconds, the cracking noise morphed into a cracked tile. I wobbled slightly and began windmilling my arms either side in an attempt to retain balance. The cracked tile shot backwards, both my feet slipped down hill really (and I mean [b]really[/b]) fast and I slapped down, face first onto the tiles. You'd think that would be the end of it. After I got over the initial winding (which took a good 10 minutes) I noticed that, beneath me, was a "spread eagle" shaped collection of cracked roof tiles. Every breath hurt, I was lying face down on the tiles in the crucufix position and I was slipping slowly down the roof (about 1cm per five minutes but enough to detect that there was a degree of slippage). I daren't move. Then it rained. Hard. All I could say was "B******s".
It took a good 45 minutes before Mrs T returned home, by which time, my feet were down to about gutter level of the lean-to and my fingernails had no more grip left in them. It took her a good 15 minutes to find me because, although she could hear a tremulous voice whispering "help, this is not a joke", the last place she expected to find me was on the roof. She then summoned help from a neighbour who put a ladder against the lean-to guttering and eased me down, making the sorts of noises they make at those Greek, plate smashing parties and destroying a few more roof tiles and what was left of the lean-to guttering in the process. By the time it was over, you'd have struggled to cause more damage if you had unrestricted use of a wrecker ball.
We had to have a roofer in to replace the broken tiles and guttering. The original blockage was caused by one of the kids shuttle-cocks......
I won't tell you how much it cost in the end. Take my advice - Ask a grown up to do it.
Excellent story, Tinners!
Suggestion - go to CERN for a bit, see if they'll let you get whizzed round the particle accelerator after work (ask them nicely), then when you're all weightless and unencumbered by gravity come back and just float up to it? (Watch out though if the effects suddenly wear off).
Tinners - I'm glad I have an office to myself - I'm crying with laughter now...
That kind of thing is exactly my concern...
tinners, that is so funny. thank's.
Clubber, put a DRY plank on the fabric, the fabric should be of sufficient amount to make a padded support and support as much of the plank as you can.
Just massive amounts of caution is needed, it's not how far you may fall, it's the way you may land.
Tinners is my hero.
Just mtfu and walk on it .As a window cleaner I walk on those sort of rooves often,it's the slate and flat concrete tiles that break easily .The pitch is quite shallow so you will not plummet to your death.
Yay! 🙂
Tinners - very funny (sorry)!
LOL
I'm sure thats not the right reaction...
Oh dear I hope you are ok tinners.
Normal sized people would be ok on that roof clubber, but you'll plummet through, leaving just your head poking out of the hole.HTH.
That' not very kind, is it? Or helpful. 🙁
Have you considered asking a friend with very long arms that's good at riding on tall cows to see if they can reach up that far?
Get a few mates round!
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