DIY Shingle Lift

The lift is carefully aligned at an angle of that-looks-about-right degrees.

Needed to get 4,200 lbs of shingles onto my friend's roof and the nearest rental place with a power ladder was very far, it was expensive, and we lacked any way to transport it (and an appropriate ladder). For $30 of lumber and hardware I turned my electric hoist and some scrap wood into a lift. It took one hour to design and two to build. This is less time than renting would've taken, given the two separate round trips required.

I used two sixteen foot 2x6s for the rails, and ordered an additional twelve foot piece (for the carriage and key pieces I didn't trust making out of the scrap available), all of which were delivered along with the shingles from the hardware store. When the project is done, they'll be cut in half and saved for future projects. We already had decking screws to assemble it, so all that was needed was a pulley (a 640 lb one is far more than the 75 lb bundles require but it was inexpensive and I can use it for future hoist projects), a u-bolt to affix the cable, and a cable stop.

My hoist can handle 440 lbs in single line mode and goes reasonably fast. I mounted it on the bottom so that the controls would be accessible to the operator on the ground without having to lengthen the control cable, so its weight would be at ground level, and also so the extra cable length and flexibility of the pulley at the top would even out the slight position shifts as the cable is unwound from different spots on the drum. The width of the lift was determined by the need to put the spool in the center and also provide enough room for ventilation. One way to reduce it would've been to mount the hoist sideways. To protect it from rain, a contractor duty garbage bag was placed over it and was weighted down. A hurricane came through before we were done, so the bag was additionally stapled to the frame. It didn't suffer any water damage, despite the need to work the bag around the cable (this junction was taped).

I designed the carriage to go low enough that the shingles could be easily loaded and also so that the bundles go over the top of the lift, sliding off right into your arms. The lift is set at a height above the roof to make this convenient. The platform is a piece of scrap from a demolished deck, which is why it has that odd angle. I made the carriage 1/4" larger than the frame to account for small variations in width. By simply resting a board at the back, the lift can also raise tools or other materials. Large marks drawn in sharpie allow the operator on the ground to know when to stop. Ideally a limit switch would be used, but it wasn't worth it for a device with such a short lifespan. Similarly, furniture gliders were considered but then rejected as the hoist is sufficiently powerful to overcome friction.



Small legs ensure the carriage doesn't collide with the edge of the roof and also increase the contact area versus simply leaning it. It is surprisingly easy to lift and move, should I need to.



The lift worked very well, although we did run up against the hoist's 25% duty cycle rating, especially as the cooling fan is attached to its motor and does not run unless it does. I plan to add a continuously running fan from an old power supply, but not having one on hand, I rigged a vacuum cleaner blowing air to increase its cooling.