# Roof jacks



## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Yes, I've done a search. No, I'm not interested in pounding nails or screws right through brand new shingles. Bought myself a pair of these things today because I'm getting old and scared.

Anyhoo, desperately trying to finish off the last part of this job I've been on for a while. Picked these things up along with an 8' 2X6. Went to the house, tried to lift up a couple of shingles and these things are sealed down tight. Real tight. I can tell that if I pry even just a smidge more, I'm gonna wreck them.

While I'm loving my ladder hooks (sort of, not really, definitely safer but wow working off them hurts), getting them in place and then back down is a little dodgy. Those hooks add quite a bit of weight to the ladder and when those wheels kick in coming down the thing thinks it's in a race to get off that roof.

Just want to fix a plank up there so I'm braced against something sturdier.

I'm wondering if there's a chance the ice shield below the first few rows of shingles is holding them down this tight?

My customer is a lawyer. I don't want to hurt their roof. At all.


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## Roamer (Jul 5, 2010)

Did you pull apart your ladder to use the ladder hooks with? You only need one section of the ladder with the ladder hooks. Substantially lighter than the complete ladder.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Yep, and wow did that make a difference. The part I needed the ladder jacks for was a different section of the house. Couldn't get at it with the use of the hooks. Ended up getting it done, but it wasn't entertaining.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

How late in the day was it? Sun can make them bond to each other. I like my roof hooks, I bring the pivot up with me and set it up so I can stand more level. As for roof jacks I don't like the idea of pounding nails into a roof so we don't use them.

When hooking to a ridge vent always make sure the damn roofer nailed it all and not every 5'-7'. I found a few like this, kind of scary as you start to work and the ladder slides down a little.


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## PRC (Aug 28, 2014)

Shingles have the cement strip on the bottom edge and that bonds to the course below it. The newer the roof the cement is very fresh and well bonded. We take a hive tool (flat bar) and SLOWLY seperate them. Then put a couple 2.5" roofing nails in each with jack. To remove tap the jack out, hammer nails in and put roof cement on nail and glue shingle down again.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Yep, I called a friend of mine who's a roofer. He said that if the roof is freshly installed, I'd likely need to use a multi tool to separate them. I tried the flat pry bar. They didn't budge. I couldn't see any way of making this work without damaging the roof. I gave up on the idea of using the roof jacks, but I'm gonna hang on to them and use them to hold my aluminum extension plank on my wall of ladders.


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