slanted metal roofs

K

keith

New member
Does anybody clean fans and ducts on slanted metal roofs? Wondering how others do it. The ones I'm bidding on, I know that the fans have never been tipped and cleaned. Zaxby's style roofs.

Some steep, some walkable. Thinking a rope system for safety or a ladder hooked to the peak and walk up.

Thanks for any help.

Keith
 
The store must provide a safe and workable system. The ladder at the peak could get you in real trouble with OSHA if something goes wrong. I will not clean anything that puts myself or my employees at risk.
 
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Yes, slanted roofs all the time, metal however is pretty uncommon in Southern California. Not sure of what a Zaxby style roof is. If you are not comfortable on a roof, Home Depots sell (or used to) a harness system for working on roofs that consists of a cable that attaches to the roof and a harness that you wear. It's not the most comfortable thing to wear, but it allows you to concentrate on the job at hand and it beats becoming a human pancake.
You can always try to get the property or restaurant owner to add a catwalk or platform so that they are in compliance with:

NFPA 96 4-8.2.2 (v.1998) "Fans shall be provided with safe access and a work surface for inspection and cleaning"
 
I ditto David’s comments.
Most people are not going to provide this work platform though. They will just get someone else who will do it (or say they did). I have used the ladder hooks before, they work ok to keep you on the roof, you do have limited movement with them, just think of the work needed just move the system to the other side of the fan. Keep this extra work in mind when bidding. Are the fans hinged?
 
Keith , I agree with the others. Run Forrest Run. The liability issue is way too costly. Ive had to tell some owners, get it fixed or get someone else. They have called me back begging. But no work platform, no deal. Sorry . Ive been sued by a former employee/scam artist, long story. Caused my WC to go from 13% to 22% . And dealing with WC is like dealing with terrorist. Its impossible.
 
Keith,

This restaurant will find some "hungry" hood cleaner to service his fans and ducts or only the hoods will be cleaned and the ducts and fans will continue to be overlooked. It's done everyday, it is not right but we come across it daily. Check out some of the photos that Matt Bryans' guys have posted. A company, like yourself, who comes along with good intentions gets stuck cleaning up after the other guy's mess. The restaurant either doesn't know or doesn't care about not having his ducts cleaned per NFPA 96. If the price is right, he'll close his eyes! But consider this, if they have a fire the last company to "clean" the system gets to pay to replace the restaurant and any loss of life, regardless of the price charged. Like David and the others stated the wise thing to do is to walk away if the owner won't provide a safe access and a work surface for cleaning the fans and ducts.
 
Thanks for the replies. Putting bid togehter. Good point about roofs. Most of the restaurants are newer but the few with the slanted roofs, I know have never been clean well. The fans are screwed to the ductwork (no hing kits).
 
Even after you get to a job, if things start to go bad-walk away, after you button it up. You never know until you open the system up.

Working safe, and doing the job the right way is the only option.
 
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David,
There is a viable alternative - simply call one of those 'one-man hood cleaning wonders'. He'll bring the whole system to bare metal for less, and he won't even get dirty!

Richard
 
RJTravel said:
David,
There is a viable alternative - simply call one of those 'one-man hood cleaning wonders'. He'll bring the whole system to bare metal for less, and he won't even get dirty!

Richard
Click to expand...

Blah blah blah.......blah blah......blah blah blah......blah.

Sometimes this board is like a country music station and that "Redneck Girl" song. Over and over and over again, same song every time you turn on the radio.

It might be a surprise to you, but the biggest concern during the training in Nashville is safety. They'll be the first to encourage you to walk away from a death trap while you can still walk.

I'd say that contacting that guy who hires a couple of illiterate drunkards off of the street would be the viable alternative. You know that they won't be climbing on that rooftop, but they'll slap that sticker on the hood, and maybe even polish the outside for a pint of Mad Dog.

Keith-

Hinges should be included in your bid, or at least a recommendation to be installed before the cleaning process.

mtngoat-
Do you use the harness posted? I have thought about investing in a couple, but I'm not sure how exactly they work. Where do you anchor the harness?
 
To meet OSHA requirements, the mounting brackets need to be installed to framing members. That is right, the trusses are the mounting points. You need to use brackets that are listed for anchors, using the proper size of fasteners. Now that we all know that, how many of use actually secure the anchors to framing members? I just use 3/8 or sometimes 5/16 wood lag screws into the plywood. We are only on the roof for 20/30 minutes, then off the roof. The only time the anchors are really used is on a fall. , and if the lag screws are installed properly, the anchors will not come off. Now this assumes a bit of tension is kept on the rope, and the fall is short.
Of course, during high angle resucues, we use two ropes and two different anchors points. We also have at least one other person check the anchors, ropes, tie-offs, knots and harnesses.
Ever use 1/4 inch nylon becaue that is what was in the van? and a suarea knot?

Douglas Hicks
 
Talked with manager of operations today about proposal. Took yalls advice and stated that I could not work on roof without catwalk. Called today and said they were pricing out catwalks and it shouldn't be a problem. I'll have to wait to see how that goes. Without the advice though I may have screwed myself. Great forum.

Keith
 
Good job. I haven't been able to convince anyone that a catwalk is a good idea. Most don't want the extra expense, and would rather pay a guy to tell them that he is doing the cleaning right. It's nice to work for people who like to have things done right.

I encountered an engineer once that couldn't stand to be informed of anything. He felt his degree was superior to my knowledge of codes. He didn't seem to think that his 8 story vertical needed to be cleaned, because a kitchen fire had melted all of the grease out of the ductwork a couple of years prior. And his biggest complaint about his current service company was they kept making notes on their paperwork about things that needed fixed.
 
mtngoat-
Do you use the harness posted? I have thought about investing in a couple, but I'm not sure how exactly they work. Where do you anchor the harness?

Dodsonish - I havent had any recent experience with these harnesses.(10 years ago)
I think we secured a heavy duty rope around the fan pedastal and hooked on to it. As there was nothing on the roof to secure to. We also placed 1 piece of a aluminum ladder on the roof and secured a position on the roof edge with a 2 by 6 bolted into the
roof edge. Also securing the ladder to the pedastal by rope on the top.
I dont miss that job any.lol
 
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