Is It Okay To Walk On Asphalt Roofs

Clean your roof only after determining that you can safely walk its surface.

Is it okay to walk on asphalt roofs.

Walking on a roof when the shingles are brittle in cold weather or soft in hot weather can damage the shingles. If you have to walk on the roof to take care of a problem try to do it at the most mild time of day in the morning in the summer and the afternoon in the winter. Roof is uncomfortable or feels unsafe or too fragile for any reason in the opinion of the inspector. High roofs judgment of the inspector.

Generally speaking it is as safe to walk on a metal roof 30 or 50 years after installation as the day it was installed. Aside from slipping on ice winter is not a bad time to walk on that roof but not the best time. A pressure washer will loosen the granules embedded in the asphalt shingles and expose the asphalt to uv rays which will shorten its lifespan. Inspect your roof visually before attempting to walk on it.

There are a few devices and strategies you can use if you choose to walk on your roof. We do not walk directly on any asphalt shingle roof that has one or more of these hazards. If you see any splits or areas that appear to be damaged avoid walking on them. It is not a good idea to walk upon a roof for any other reason.

Then we manipulated each of them to check out two things. Don t use a pressure washer. What happens if you bend the shingle and how easy is it to scrape the protective grains off the surface. Beyond asphalt shingles even wood shingles can become cracked or dislodged.

Video of the day. Generally these types of materials are far safer to walk on since you won t be risking damaging your roof in order to do so. These roofs are not safe to walk upon unless you know exactly where to step. Steep pitch roofs judgment of the inspector.

To illustrate the problem we took three pieces of asphalt shingle and plunged one into a cooler full of ice left one at roof temperature and put the third under a heat lamp. In fact metal roofs can stand up to you walking on them better than ceramic tiles and some other roofing systems. But before you head up inspect the roof from the ground and keep an eye out for any badly deteriorated shingles. Don t walk on your roof if it is wet or icy.

Walking on asphalt shingles is not a good practice unless it is done to inspect and repair the shingles. Some materials like asphalt shingles are flexible and don t necessarily crack under stress. Even when absolutely necessary it should only be done by a professional. There is no need to walk on the roof unless it is for the rare and occasional repair.

Even asphalt gets damaged from repeated traffic something that isn t necessarily true of metal. Advice about walking on inspecting asphalt shingle roofs.