Broken roof Tiles

[Home Pride]

Probably a regional thing, but concrete tile roofs are very common in Florida. I walk most of them with no issues, but most tile roofs have plenty of previously broken tiles visible prior to walking on them. I photogragh the "repaired" broken tiles to illustrate that they were broken and repaired prior to my arrival.

I have cracked a few in the past, if you "push off" suddenly, even on a headlap, you can crack them.

Dom.

[Les]

Mike,

I have a pair of open toed pumps you could modify. I bought them for my Missouri trip and found out I

couldn't wear them in the Watts factory. They were not Ron S's size and Mark P has no sense of style and rejected them out of hand!

On a more serious note. I have heard the roofing associations have "strongly suggested" that foot traffic on a roof should be extremely limited. Seems like I heard it at a St Louis ASHI conference a number of years ago. We try to dance around the issue here in Mich, because we don't run into tile much.

[hausdok]

Les,

It didn't have to do with safety. It was the bunions. They didn't want their workers to see your bunions, get grossed out and start heaving up all over all of those nicely soldered manifolds. [:-yuck]

OT - OF!!!

M.

[SonOfSwamp]

Just curious: What's wrong with saying, or writing, or otherwise agreeing on terms something like this:

I won't walk on the roof, because the tiles are brittle and might break if I walk on them. There are ways to make a close inspection of a tile roof without damaging the tiles, but those methods involve specialized equipment, such as "chicken" ladders, scaffolding, work platforms and/or a bucket truck. If the seller will agree to cover the costs of replacing any tiles I break, and the buyer will cover the cost of any specialized equipment I might need, I'll be glad to make a close inspection of the roof.

Or, I'll look at the tiles from the edge of the roof and from dormers and upstairs windows, at no extra charge.

Let me know what you want to do...

Thanks,

Your humble HI

[homnspector]

Walter, there's nothing wrong with that, I just never felt it was fair to the client when I was perfectly capable of walking on the roof without hurting anything. Now I may have to re-think that. It seems like with all the technology available, there must be some way to document the journey up the roof that leaves no doubt that the damage was there already. Something like you suggested about showing pictures to the client from the roof edge before venturing up, but it would be nice to be able to do it alone.

[Les]

Walter,

Good thought and nice words! That is the sort of comment we try to make. We have to exclude roofs for several months per year because of snow cover. We tell folks everything we can, but are very careful to make clear what we could see and what we can't see.

[homnspector]

Here it is on Google Earth. Darn, it's not built yet, I guess that won't work.

Image Insert:

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[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by homnspector

. . . It seems like with all the technology available, there must be some way to document the journey up the roof that leaves no doubt that the damage was there already. Something like you suggested about showing pictures to the client from the roof edge before venturing up, but it would be nice to be able to do it alone.

Take a video camera with you. Turn it one when you first step onto the ladder and leave it on till you step back onto the ground.

As for breaking relatively new concrete tiles, I can break as many or as few as I please. (It helps that I weigh 250 lbs.) If I choose to break a tile, all I have to do is step in the wrong place and press down suddenly with the ball of my foot. I can make a clean horizontal crack. On the other hand, if I'm not in a mood to crack any, I step on the laps and only with my entire foot.

Old tiles are a different story. After 30 years, concrete tiles seem to get very brittle. I avoid walking on those.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Mike Lamb]

How about,

"I do not walk on brittle roofing because I could unintentionally damage the roof, hurt myself, or hurt someone on the ground."

Around my nape of the neck, we have slate, asbestos, clay, concrete,...for me, it is not worth walking.

Short changing the customer? The edge with a ladder, or the ground with binocs will give me a decent idea, and is the best I will do.

PRESS ON!

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common then unsuccessful people with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

So press on towards your highest calling. You can make it."

-Um, don't know the source

[hausdok]

If anyone is interested, here's a little video on tile roofs from HGTV pro. Click here.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[JayD]

Originally posted by Brian G

They have no case. I would be polite, but wouldn't pay them a dime. If they wanted to go to court they would have to overcome the testimony of two witnesses who were standing there at the time, and convince the jury you took photos of the tiles after you broke them. I'd love to hear what your motive for that was supposed to be.

The roofer is full of crap. You're a licensed home inspector, which gives you as much right to be up there as a licensed roofer, IMHO. And I would definitely say agreement to allow an inspection certainly includes the roof.

They'll probably try to scare you into handing over some cash, but they have nothing.

Brian G.

Not One Dime [:-dog]