How to safely walk on immitation slate roof.

Hi everyone

I found a faux slate rubbery roof impossible to walk on wet but surprisingly when I returned and tried to walk on it dry as it was still to slippery even on a mild pitch. It did get colder between visits. I have good quality grippy shoes.

Any advice on how to safely access the roof would certainly be appreciated. Will the roof be less slippery when the temperature is much hotter?. Will foam or sponge pieces where we walk help us?

Thanks Terry

Mike, he said the fake slate COMPANIES have lifespan of between 5 and 10 years. Normally that stuff fails before that, and that is why they go out of business. I installed some ECO-Star about 8 years ago and it is still holding up, but you have to know what you are doing and follow the installation instructions exactly. Hand nailed with stainless steel ring shank nails,the tiles pre-bent in both directions and the correct spacing. It is a pain in the ass.

Good point Woody!

Find replacement pieces and have them available before you work on it. Fake slate companies have average lifespans of about 5-10 years.

Terry, it doesn't get any better! They make playground slides out of that stuff too. You have to do one of two things. Either get some roof scaffold brackets and wait for it to get warm enough to bend the slates up to be able to drive some nails into them to hold them on the roof, so that you an put a 2 x 6 in them to set a ladder on to wash the windows, or get a roof ladder that will hook on the top ridge so that you can walk on the rungs. When we do real slate, we will normally set a section of scaffold up to the roof to hold everything and give us a place to walk from.