When carrying out roofing in a private cottage, you need to somehow get directly to the roof. Probably, many saw simple wooden stairs that are attached directly to the slate of old houses. Today, aluminum ladders for the roof are more popular, since they do not rot and are lightweight at the same time. So, the load on the system will be very small. The use of such a design is the guarantee that you can easily reach the top and work there with maximum comfort. In addition to carrying out repair work, it may be needed, for example, when installing a chimney.
How to choose?
More recently, most homeowners made their own staircases for roofs. Today, finished designs are increasingly being bought. But there are a number of points to consider. Firstly, the distance between the bars in the structure may not coincide with the distance between the elements of the roofing . Secondly, the roofing material may be too brittle and brittle, for example, if it is slate or ondulin. That is, if the weight of the stairs is too large, the sheets can be destroyed.
As a result, the ladder for the roof must be selected correctly. First you need to measure the distance from the edge of the slope of the roof to its ridge. So we get the length of the longitudinal bars. The second important point is the correspondence of the distance between the bars to the distance between the waves of the material. Ideally, the steps should be 40 cm apart.
Wall or attic?
The stairs to the roof of the house must be selected in accordance with the design of the roof. As a rule, if it is flat, then there will be no problems with installation. But most often, most buildings have a gable or four-gable roof structure, respectively, to climb it, you will have to work hard. The roofing ladder should be:
- reliable;
- convenient in operation;
- made of high quality materials;
- firmly attached.
To climb the roof, a wall structure is first attached. As a rule, it is attached to the frame of the building, and therefore, when erecting a residential object, you should plan in advance the embedded parts. According to the standards, the ladder should be separated from the wall by an average of 200-1300 mm. If you need to get not to the roof, but to the chimney, you need a ladder for the roof. It is attached to the crate with special fasteners. In addition, its use must be absolutely safe during operation. Building codes also prescribe that emergency staircases should be built in houses with high windows (at least 3.5 meters). Docking with the roof is carried out using hooks that smoothly move along the edge of the roof. There must be transverse bars at the ends of the hooks - this will protect the roofing material from various damages.
The modern staircase for the roof has an aesthetic appearance, so it fits perfectly both in the exterior of the house and in the surrounding landscape. The installation of such structures is a very responsible process, therefore, specialists must carry it out.