Cleaning a chimney on a metal roof

[o&itw]

I have been heating with wood for most of my life. The place we have lived in for the past 24 years has a composite roof with a shallow slant. We are looking to move to another place with more land this spring or summer and many of the places we have looked at so far have metal roofs.

We like the idea of a metal roof (especially if it is somewhat soundproofed) because of longetivity and greater resistance to fire. However, since I am getting a bit long in the tooth, I was wondering how I would ever get up on a metal roof to clean the chimney.

Any one with any experience on this?

My brother-in-law had this problem . He bought some type of gritty , textured roof paint & painted a path up to his chimney . It was still fairly steep of course but no longer slick .

[kasilofhome]

Clean from inside monthly
And outside once a year....we do that in the summer
Toss ropes 2 over the roof.....tie down the ropes and latch on to them .
Never do it alone.

[1shotwade]

My roof is a 12/12 pitch metal roof.I took angle iron and cut it to cover the distance of 3 screws that hold the roof metal into the purlins, cleaned it and painted it to match the roof and secured then to each purlin to make a permanent ladder on the roof. Of course it's on the back side of the house where it doesn't get seen much but even so , it don't look bad!

Wade

[KatieVT]

You could do what my husband's grandparents did and never clean the chimney!

We are caretaking their house this winter and had a lot of problems with the woodstove/chimney. They have a steep, slate roof that is quite slippery under normal conditions. Thankfully the chimney is less than 20' tall (that has been a problem with downdrafts!) so my husband was able to clean it from the inside up. He got a 5 gallon pail of creosote out including pretty big chunks.

He's planning to anchor a ladder using ropes like kasilofhome suggested come spring.

[Skandi]

We have a metal roof and they are common here, chimneys are cleaned from the inside mainly, but if you want to access the roof there's two options, either fixed rungs bolted into the roof (on a beam) or what we have which is a dedicated roof ladder it's just a normal wooden ladder, but in a V shape one side being only 3' long, the V hooks over the roofline so the ladder hangs on the roof and lets you climb (roof is at about 40 degrees, so no way to walk up it) Some people have one that stays on the roof running on a track from one end to the other, but ours comes off and lives in the barn.

[big rockpile]

Not a metal roof but when I owned this place I climbed up to clean the flue. My Ex was holding the Ladder when I was coming down. She couldn't see me. I started sliding, grabbed corner of one shingle to stop me. She hollers up I WISH YOU WOULD HURRY UP!



big rockpile

[BlackFeather]

Our metal roof isn't too steep, and it has been painted with aluminum fiber paint since it was put on in the 40's, so we don't have any trouble slipping. Painting a gritty strip might be a good idea. I had a wicked thought, if your roof is metal a chimney fire won't hurt it, have you ever seen how clean a chimney is after a fire?

[MichaelK!]

I build my metal roof with a 9/12 raise/run to drop heavy snow loads. To get up to my chimney what I do is back my pickup truck up towards the cabin, and position an extension ladder such that when the legs of the ladder set in the pickup bed, the ladder lays flat against the roof. I simply walk up the ladder to the chimney and pop off its cap for cleaning.

Because the pickup can be rolled back an forth, I can get it's position perfect so the ladder lays completely flat. The legs jammed into the corner of the bed means there's no chance of the ladder slipping.

I can use this technique to "walk" all the way up to the peak of the roof.

[ET1 SS]

My roof is metal, though nearly flat. I have seen many roofs where they permanent mounted ladder rungs on the roof, so it is easier to get up there.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

We have a 12/12 asphalt shingle roof. I cleaned from the top a few times after nailing a few wooden cleats to the roof, but now I do it from the inside. Makes a little mess, but better than a trip to the ER.

[okiemom]

pay someone else. Medical bill are too expensive. It will be easier on everyone's heart.

[wy_white_wolf]

Mine is steep enough that I can lay a ladder on the roof from the ground and climb it all the way to the chimney.

WWW

[nobrabbit]

My husband must have sticky soles on his boots. Our roof is pretty steep but he just goes right up it.

[Midgard]

I'm glad we have a low roof with asphalt shingles.

Ed

[o&itw]

Thanks everyone. Got a couple of great ideas here.