Cheap and effective trolley apparatus for one man to get 80 pound bundles of shingles on the roof of a house without carrying them up a ladder. Cost is about 80 dollars.
The placement of the shingle lift was determined by where he wanted to finish the roof and the location of the ladder just happened to be where he was working on the roof that day. When I shot the video, I waited until the ladder was close enough to the lift that I could get it into the wide shot. He was left handed and started on the roof on the opposite side of the house and worked around the roof clockwise and finished up right behind where the lift is seen in the video.
The design of the this shingle lift system was done on the fly by my cousin and he didn't then and has no plans now to draw up a set of plans. From the two related videos, you should be able to determine the base dimensions of parallel upright 2 by 4's and the steel cabling is 1/8th cable from any hardware store. The platforms were constructed from 3/4 plywood. When we were done with the job, the system was dismantled and used for other projects.
I wonder where the sweet spot is. Gain enough weight so you can lift as many shingles as possible. But not so much weight you're out of shape and can't climb the ladder. This is a real intriguing idea.
You should install a couple more cross members so you can climb right up your machine instead of using a separate ladder, would save loads of time. Great invention!
@Terryblount Heck this is just a johnny do it yourselfer, and I think it's pretty smart thinking. Most small roofing companies still carry shingles up the ladder by shoulder. They still climb the ladder for every bundle of shingles. He's climbing the ladder for every bundle too, AND, he doesn't have to climb back down the ladder. I would, however, move the ladder closer to the hoist. I think this is very creative, even the dolly to cart the shingles over to the hoist is using the brain for sure!
? ? ? WHY DID HE PUT THE LADDER SO FAR AWAY FROM HIS LIFT ? ? IT WOULD BE SWEET IF IT LIFTED 5 OR MORE BUNDLES AT A TIME. IT STILL BEATS CARRYING THEM UP A LADDER
Calculate the weight of water and how much time it would take to pump water up one story for each bundle of shingles. Would still need one person on the ground to man the pump, reclaim the water, load bundles.
Love it. Gotta do a roof on an island soon. No boom truck and this is a one-off deal. Only have one weekend to do it so no guarantee there'll be a kid around willing to carry them up (not to mention liability should said kid fall or something). Also, TerryBlount, love your system too, but this is a one-off and hard to justify the expenditure unless we sell it afterwards, plus it will cost extra to take a 20' ladder on the ferry as it will be overlength (and the truck has no rack, 5 or 6 ft. box). Wood for this could be purchased on the island and used for other projects later or burned. Only question I have is, are there wheels on the sleds, glides, or just wood-on-wood?
This 60 year old was reroofing a 14 square roof and removing 3 tab shingles three layers deep over a period of a month. He did the shingles and I was the one man ground crew doing clean up. We worked for free and I paid for the shingles. The lady owner of the house was undergoing treatment for cancer.
I would rather... MUCH RATHER... pay $75 for a hoist motor and run 9 bundles up at once .... than to have to climb that ladder every time I needed a bundle. See my roofing hoist videos. Also, this is extremely inefficient... think about it... you are using 200 lbs of body weight that has to climb back up the ladder, just to raise 65 lb bundle of shingles. There must be a lot of friction in this system of the man would drop like a rock with only 65 lb counter balance.
