Planning a Roof Load-Up So the Roof Carries It

The Roof Decides the Plan

A roof is built to carry its own weight and a margin. It is not built to carry a full pallet of tile sitting in the middle of one span between trusses. Weight concentrated in the wrong place bends decking, stresses framing, and leaves a sag that shows up long after the job is done.

So the plan starts with the roof, not the crane. The roofer knows where the bearing walls and heavy framing are, and decides how much material goes in each spot. Smaller stacks spread out along the roof, set over or near bearing lines, are the normal answer.

That takes more picks than landing one big pallet. It also means the crew finds material within reach of where they are working, which saves time on the roof for the rest of the job.

Timing Around Tear-Off and Dry-In

On a reroof, the old material comes off and the underlayment goes down before new material is staged. Stacks set on bare decking get in the way of the crew, and stacks set on torn old paper sit on a roof that is not ready for them.

The usual timing is after dry-in and before the crew starts laying. If the roofer needs material staged earlier, that is a question for the roofer about where it can safely sit, and the answer goes into the plan.

In a Havasu summer, the load-up happens at first light. A dark roof deck gets hot enough by late morning to be a hazard for the crew receiving the stacks. Monsoon afternoons bring gusts that make sheet goods and membrane rolls unmanageable on the hook.

• What material is coming and roughly how many pallets or bundles
• Where the roofer wants each stack to land
• Whether tear-off and dry-in will be finished before the crane arrives
• Where the supplier truck will park and when it arrives
• Overhead lines, trees or eaves between the street and the roof
• Parts of the roof with existing tile that is staying

The Truck, the Street and the Deck

Material usually arrives on the supplier's truck. When the crane is doing the load-up, that truck parks where the crane can pick straight off its deck, and the material goes from the truck to the roof without touching the ground. That saves the driveway and saves a second lift.

The crane often sits in the street for this work. That means planning where it sets up, where the supplier truck fits beside it, and keeping the area under the load path clear of people and vehicles for the duration.

Pallets are picked with pallet forks or with slings under a sound pallet. A broken pallet or a shifted load gets restacked or rebanded on the ground before it goes up. Loose tile dropped from roof height is not a risk worth taking.