Throw bag hitting shingle roof...How bad?

[Winchman]

I need to get a line over a limb close to a house, and the 12-ounce bag will fall on the shingle roof from about thirty feet up. It's also possible the bag will bounce off the bottom of the limb and then hit the roof even harder. How much damage to the shingles (currently in good condition) is likely?

Is there a way to restrict how much throw line can go out so the bag will stop short of the roof after going over the limb? I don't want to shock load the line by just tying it off but can't think of a reliable way to slow it down. I'm using Notch 2.2mm Acculine.

 

[27RMT0N]

Asphalt shingles or like, cedar shakes? Asphalt shingles on a roof with any sort of plywood underlayment will be fine, but something like overlapping cedar shakes are very brittle and can break fairly easily. 30 feet isn't much, and 12oz isn't heavy, I wouldn't be worried (assuming asphalt), but like levi said you can stop or at least slow the throwball by grabbing the line after it's gone over the branch you want.

Also, throwline is strong, especially ones like yours with Dyneema. I've put my full body weight and yanked hard as I could to free stuck lines or pull hangers countless times, and I've even used it to pull trees over in a pinch.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Don’t touch slate but I think you’re going on typicall shingles. If the roof is in good shape you should be ok. Be aware of the potential leak claim later on. A few pics of any throwbAg compact areas could be valuable



You could set a lower access point then rope advance yiur way up

 

[ATH]

Maybe use a lighter throw bag and heavier line to slow the decent a bit. Yeah...that's an expense, but a lot cheaper than a roof. Besides risk of damage (which, I do agree with others, risk is low), if the client is home even with no damage, they may be upset with that big of a thud. Who can't use an extra throw bag every now and then anyhow?

 

[Winchman]

Asphalt shingles. I'll use the range finder and lay out enough line for the bag to come down halfway before trailing it with my gloved hand. That should make for a soft landing. I'll let the HO know what I'm doing. They're pretty agreeable.

Thanks for the help.

 

[southsoundtree]

I trail
the throwline through my bare hand, fingers snugly together, thumb to fingertips... the throwline can't really foul and grab a finger.

I was throwing a 16 oz bag. It half- hitched my finger, coming to a sudden jolt, resulting in a minor injury.

 

[southsoundtree]

On a side note, whenever pulling a hanger, say with a throwline, i always throw whatever line away from me in case it suddenly loads up unexpectedly due to catching on something.

 

[Chris Schultz]

I’ve repeatedly landed a throw ball on a roof, to the best of my knowledge no damage. It does make a pretty good thud, and I’m usually grateful if they’re not home!

 

[Tom Dunlap]

If you’re on the roof you do need to follow fall protection rules. No. Free pass

 

[Bart_]

Another option is 8 oz bag with skinniest line. Quite a weight/inertia difference for the thud.

Other faux pas is sploosh into pristine swimming pool

 

[27RMT0N]

I’ve repeatedly landed a throw ball on a roof, to the best of my knowledge no damage. It does make a pretty good thud, and I’m usually grateful if they’re not home!

I always try to explain to people who are home that when I work over their place, that even a single fir-cone or 1/2" branch landing on the roof can make quite the racket, but not to be worried about it. Most tend to understand when I use the analogy of the roof and house walls being like the skin and and shell of a drum. To be safe, I always take photos of the undamaged roof after I'm done just in case, but have never had a single problem.

 

[Winchman]

Not gonna be on the roof, just close to it. I built two two-story houses by myself when I was much younger, and I shudder to think about nailing the drip edge flashing and first courses of shingles in place with no PPE.

I'm thinking about a redirect at the red dot so I can remove more branches from this limb, but it's looking real sketchy.

 

[ATH]

Are you taking that whole branch?

Was that biggest branch further back dead? And the next branches (2 at the same point) out? That's lionstailed now so needs more end reduction. If the further back branches could have been retained, probably minimal reduction at the end would have done wonders for that...

 

[Winchman]

HO wants the whole limb gone or as much gone as I can remove safely. I'm trying to decide if there's more I can do without undue risk.

 

[southsoundtree]

Not gonna be on the roof, just close to it. I built two two-story houses by myself when I was much younger, and I shudder to think about nailing the drip edge flashing and first courses of shingles in place with no PPE.

I'm thinking about a redirect at the red dot so I can remove more branches from this limb, but it's looking real sketchy.
View attachment 97766

That's a very flat angle at the pulley. What do you have going on there?

 

[Winchman]

That's the redirect I used while cutting the limb just below and to the right of the pulley. The limb went down a speed line away from me. Before climbing on the redirect, I had put the arrangement up, bounced hard on the vertical lines several times, then took it down to check the knots. All could easily be undone by hand, which confirmed the loading wasn't excessive. I got the same result after the climb.

 

[Matias]

I assume that you set up the climb this way for ease of climbing, but to get out to the tips, I would want to be in that spot where the pulley is, with independent climbing devices on each rope so that you can pull yourself to the tips while letting rope out on the other side. I might setup a third line on that nearby branch to make balancing easier if that would help.

 

[oceans]

I need to get a line over a limb close to a house, and the 12-ounce bag will fall on the shingle roof from about thirty feet up. It's also possible the bag will bounce off the bottom of the limb and then hit the roof even harder. How much damage to the shingles (currently in good condition) is likely?

Is there a way to restrict how much throw line can go out so the bag will stop short of the roof after going over the limb? I don't want to shock load the line by just tying it off but can't think of a reliable way to slow it down. I'm using Notch 2.2mm Acculine.

I have zero data on shingle strength other than saying don’t go near slate at all. I have hit numerous shed roofs from bad throws or as the bag is coming down with no damage to report.

I used to use a big shot for the first few months of my career until I did a rec climb with a seasoned climber that hand threw into the top of a huge white oak while I mucked around for far too long. Since that day, I forced myself to hand throw for everything. It suits the tree type here, so I understand it’s not for all.

I developed my single hand throw with my right hand with a long scope between the bag and my throw hand, and I let the line run through my left hand as it’s coming out of the cube. My reason for this is being able to brake the throw bag to prevent over-shooting. This technique can regularly get me into 80’ to 90’ trees and we don’t really see much taller than that in my coastal area.

If this isn’t an option, maybe theres a way to launch from a air launcher or band launcher from the other side of the house so the bag will go through the crown and land clear? Or perhaps from a parallel throw along side the house?? Or perhaps access another tree and hand throw from crown to crown??? Did that a lot when working a huge job with tall trees and other climbers…allowing us to easily set lines for each other was a boon to production!

 

[Tuebor]

Before climbing on the redirect, I had put the arrangement up, bounced hard on the vertical lines several times, then took it down to check the knots. All could easily be undone by hand, which confirmed the loading wasn't excessive. I got the same result after the climb.

Not sure I would use knot untie-ability as a load testing method, especially if you're going to go flatter by moving the redirect to the red spot.

 

[Winchman]

The size/strength of the branch going up/out to the red dot worries me more than the strength of the rope. I've pretty much decided to walk away from this one. There's only so much an old guy working out of a beater Honda can do.