Free Sample
The Complete Guide to Becoming A Helper--Roofer
The real day-to-day, the actual pay, and the honest truth about whether you should pick up a hammer and climb onto a roof.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Helper--Roofer Actually Do?
Let's clear up the title first, because it sounds like a minor role. A Helper--Roofer is not just a person who holds things and fetches coffee. On a roofing crew, the helper is the engine room. You are the person who does the heavy lifting — literally — so that the more experienced roofers can do the skilled work of laying shingles, torch-down membrane, or metal panels quickly and correctly. You are training to become that skilled person, but on day one, your job is to keep the crew moving. If the crew is a machine, you are the grease and the fuel.
What You Carry and What You Haul
The first thing you will learn is the weight of a bundle of shingles. A standard architectural asphalt shingle bundle weighs between 60 and 80 pounds, depending on the manufacturer and the style. You will carry these up a ladder, onto the roof, and across the deck to wherever the installer is working. On an average residential house, a crew will use about 20 to 30 bundles for a simple gable roof. That is roughly 2,000 pounds of material that has to get from the ground to the roof, mostly by human muscle. Some crews use a conveyor or a crane for big commercial jobs, but on most residential work, a strong back and good balance are the delivery system.
You will also haul plywood or OSB (oriented strand board — the