What got me thinking about this was cleaning my chimney a couple weeks ago. Due to a real complicated roof layout, it was a real challenge to get safely onto the roof. The two easy routes I tried didn't work because I was hitting my head on an adjacent eave (with chunky pointy 4x6 rafter tails) while trying to get from the ladder onto the roof (which is tricky enough as it is). Finally ended up running my 28' ladder up to an eave right over the top of a wall with six windows -- it's the part of our house with a cathedral ceiling. I really wanted to avoid that wall because one wrong move and I would have busted out a lot of windows, but I had no choice.
Of course a 28' ladder is tough for one person to handle, so I used the tractor front loader (with a lot of straps to brace the ladder) to support the weight of the ladder while I got it into position. Worked well but I had a few pucker moments and probably wouldn't try that approach again.
Four hours later I finally get onto the roof, and used a rope to hoist up a 6' ladder to get me up to the chimney, as well as a small ladder stabilizer platform I made and a backpack with some tools. While hoisting the ladder up, I banged it into a window and almost had a heart attack, but thankfully no glass breakage. Only took me 15 minutes to clean the chimney, inspect everything, etc. All good.
The rain pan at the top of the chimney chase is rusting pretty bad, and will need to be replaced next year probably (will save that for a summer project). I got on the walkie talkie and had my wife send up a bottle of rust converter and paint brush to paint on the rain pan and maybe slow down the rust. That worked OK but of course I spilled a little down the side of the chimney.
Got all my gear down, climbed down the ladder, untied my safety lines, and put everything away. In total, about a six hour project just to clean the chimney!
Next year I am either going to cut an access hatch from the attic to get me directly onto the roof, or rent a towable boom lift (about $150 per day plus fees/taxes from Ahern rental). Heck, at about $15,000 cost brand new, I may come out ahead in the long run to buy a towable boom lift or a used 4x4 boom lift. Either boom lift option will require me to bring in some dirt/gravel and grade a flat path around the back side of the house since it's quite a slope there now.
Here's a photo of the six window $$$ zone where I ended up running the ladder. You can see other access points to each side where I was stymied by rafter tails getting off the ladder. Chimney is on the far right hidden behind tree branches in photo.
Here's the arrangement on the roof once I got up there:
My wife said only I would have been nuts enough to go through this debacle, versus paying someone else $400 to clean the chimney for us. I don't think they would have gotten on the roof any easier. But really, if it only takes a $15,000 boom lift to save me $400 per year, that's not bad for a wood heating arrangement. Will only take me 37.5 years to cover the cost of the boom lift.... If I can use the lift for other maintenance like power-washing and painting, or tree trimming, I can probably write off the cost in about 25 years....
