Roofers do the majority of their work up on top of your home, so the first requirement of a roofer is that he or she likes heights and is comfortable working high above the ground. To get onto your roof, a roofer needs a ladder. Just an ordinary, everyday ladder will do, but it has to be sturdy enough for a guy and his equipment to get up and down on. This equipment consists of (or should consist of) a harness system to keep the roofer on the roof and his tools for the day, which are hammers, nail guns, adhesive if they are going to be gluing shingles on and of course the roofing material themselves. They also need tools to pull off the old roof and a dumpster below in which to put the garbage from the job.

Roofing is a job that requires sturdy footing at all times. Flip flops and sandals are not an option, instead roofers need rugged, strong steel toed boots that have thick soles for extra traction. Jeans or heavy pants are a must but should be comfortable because there is a lot of moving around on the job. Of course, safety glasses and hard hats should be used as there can be a lot of debris that is generated when taking old shingles off and you don’t want to be accidentally hit in the head with one of the power tools that are being used, either.

Shingles are usually adhered to the roof with a strong glue and then nailed on for extra strength. The layers overlap so that water runs off and won’t infiltrate the roof itself. Tiles and slate are installed with nails, which takes more time than shingles to complete, as the roofer has to position each piece and hammer it in, rather than using a large strip of shingles in one go.

Whatever the roofing material used, the roofer needs to make sure he has all of his tools with him before he starts the job. They may wear tool belts with their equipment inside for ease of getting up and coming down from the job site, or have tool boxes placed on the roof for easy access. Using these basic tools of scrapers, nailguns and hammers they work to give you a brand new roof. Roofers are trained professionals that learn a lot of their job on the go, right up there on top of your house.