What are the rules for this now? At my new house a dish can be installed at the roof fascia/soffit area. But they will need an extension ladder to do this.
Ladders and Installing Dish?
- Thread starter reubenray
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 75
- Views 10K
Try to install into brick if possible. I'd try to avoid putting holes in the new roof. They won't install over siding.
If you are uncertain then it might better to hire a professional. Should you decide to self install please be safe.
The technicians are no longer allowed to get off the ladder.
So they are installing at the edge of the roof
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Techs carry up to 28' ladders on their vans. 40' are available but require 2 men to set it up
I have never understood why people choose to cause destruction to their homes by installing a satellite dish on the roof, except in cases where it is absolutely necessary to clear the tree line or some other nearby obstruction, or if you live in the middle of a desert where it hardly ever rains and there is very little wind. In cases where you have a clear view of the sky a galvanized metal pole mount (with the galvanized metal pole set in concrete in the ground) is much better. The reason is that no matter how you anchor the dish to the roof, the dish is like a miniature sail and the force of the wind will try to pull it away from the roof, and eventually it will make enough of a crack that water is allowed to enter. The water will seep into the crack and start to rot the wood, which will only further hasten the damage and eventually the need to replace that section of the roof. So why do installers do roof mounts? Because it's not their house and they just don't care, but also because by the time the damage becomes apparent to the homeowner they will most likely be long gone, either retired or in some other line of work.
Now when you talk eave mounts, those are slightly better because it is easier to replace a section of the eaves then a section of the roof, and a leak in the eaves will generally only rot the eave itself and not penetrate into the house. But there are two ways to install an eave mount, one is on a side of the house where there is a peak in the roof and the other is on the front or back of a typical ranch-style house where you are below the slope of the roof. Once again if you live where it seldom rains or snows it doesn't matter. But if you get snow or ice on the roof then do you really want that snow or ice coming down and pushing against or crashing into your dish mount? Only if you enjoy having to have the dish repositioned every so often! And rain running down off the roof, hitting the mount and getting redirected back toward the house doesn't seem like such a great idea either.
And if you do get significant snow then having a dish on a pole in the yard makes it much easier to sweep off the snow after a heavy snowfall that could interfere with the signal. But maybe you enjoy climbing up on an icy roof in subzero temperatures because falling off the roof is such fun???
To me it's always been a no-brainer to put the dish on a pole (typically a 10-foot piece of galvanized electrical conduit from one of the big box home improvement stores) and use a bag or two of concrete to anchor it in the ground. Before setting it in the concrete I'd give the part of the pipe that will be sunk in the concrete a couple good whacks with a sledge hammer to slightly deform it so it won't turn in the concrete, though I have never seen a pole actually turn after the concrete has set even if you fail to do that - there are plenty of people who will tell you it could happen and would even have you weld scrap steel onto the pole so it can't turn in the concrete but I have never found that to be necessary, then again I don't live in a place that gets hurricanes. But if you don't have a welder, just deform a part of the pipe that will be set in the concrete a little bit so it is not perfectly round and that should take care of that problem. And remember that the pipe has to be perfectly vertical so use a level on three or four sides to make cure that it is right after pouring the concrete and again before the concrete cures. I'd also think about how the wire is going to get to the dish - if buried underground you may want a piece of pipe or conduit temporarily taped to the pole that starts above the concrete line and bends out to go into the dirt (where it won't be completely covered by concrete) so you can run the wire right up next to the pole and avoid lawnmower outages.
Of course Dish installers will NEVER offer to do this because it means they have to make two trips to complete the installation, one to set the pole and pour the concrete, and then after the concrete cures they have to come back and install the dish. But if you absolutely insist, some will do it, others won't. You of course always have the option to put up a pole yourself (IF you know how to do it correctly and use the correct size pipe) before the installer gets there, but if you do that remember that the cable from the dish to the house has to be grounded to the house ground so the closer you can get to the home's electric meter and ground rod (while still having a clear view of the satellites) the better.
Just as a disclaimer, I have never worked for Dish or been a Dish installer, but I have helped people relocate their dishes after a move. And the pole mounts always worked great!
Now when you talk eave mounts, those are slightly better because it is easier to replace a section of the eaves then a section of the roof, and a leak in the eaves will generally only rot the eave itself and not penetrate into the house. But there are two ways to install an eave mount, one is on a side of the house where there is a peak in the roof and the other is on the front or back of a typical ranch-style house where you are below the slope of the roof. Once again if you live where it seldom rains or snows it doesn't matter. But if you get snow or ice on the roof then do you really want that snow or ice coming down and pushing against or crashing into your dish mount? Only if you enjoy having to have the dish repositioned every so often! And rain running down off the roof, hitting the mount and getting redirected back toward the house doesn't seem like such a great idea either.
And if you do get significant snow then having a dish on a pole in the yard makes it much easier to sweep off the snow after a heavy snowfall that could interfere with the signal. But maybe you enjoy climbing up on an icy roof in subzero temperatures because falling off the roof is such fun???
To me it's always been a no-brainer to put the dish on a pole (typically a 10-foot piece of galvanized electrical conduit from one of the big box home improvement stores) and use a bag or two of concrete to anchor it in the ground. Before setting it in the concrete I'd give the part of the pipe that will be sunk in the concrete a couple good whacks with a sledge hammer to slightly deform it so it won't turn in the concrete, though I have never seen a pole actually turn after the concrete has set even if you fail to do that - there are plenty of people who will tell you it could happen and would even have you weld scrap steel onto the pole so it can't turn in the concrete but I have never found that to be necessary, then again I don't live in a place that gets hurricanes. But if you don't have a welder, just deform a part of the pipe that will be set in the concrete a little bit so it is not perfectly round and that should take care of that problem. And remember that the pipe has to be perfectly vertical so use a level on three or four sides to make cure that it is right after pouring the concrete and again before the concrete cures. I'd also think about how the wire is going to get to the dish - if buried underground you may want a piece of pipe or conduit temporarily taped to the pole that starts above the concrete line and bends out to go into the dirt (where it won't be completely covered by concrete) so you can run the wire right up next to the pole and avoid lawnmower outages.
Of course Dish installers will NEVER offer to do this because it means they have to make two trips to complete the installation, one to set the pole and pour the concrete, and then after the concrete cures they have to come back and install the dish. But if you absolutely insist, some will do it, others won't. You of course always have the option to put up a pole yourself (IF you know how to do it correctly and use the correct size pipe) before the installer gets there, but if you do that remember that the cable from the dish to the house has to be grounded to the house ground so the closer you can get to the home's electric meter and ground rod (while still having a clear view of the satellites) the better.
Just as a disclaimer, I have never worked for Dish or been a Dish installer, but I have helped people relocate their dishes after a move. And the pole mounts always worked great!
First of all pole mounts cost money. You got $10-$20 for the pole and another $10-$15 for the cement. Now you got to dig the hole for the pole and trench the wire under the grass, which can add another hour or two to the install.
Eve mounts are a good solution, but cost money.
Roof mount in the other hand, you put a 1/2 inch socket adaptor in your drill, and with some silicone you are securely mounted to the roof in about 3-5 minutes.
All those other options are fine and dandy, however 99% of the time the customer doesn’t want to pay for anything unless it’s free.
Pole mounts are free to the customer if there is no line of site on the roof, however the installer is not going to do a pole mount when mounting to the roof is an option.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
millions of dishes and antennas are roof mounted and if done correctly will never leak.
Have you priced a piece of 1 1/4 ridged conduit lately? They are north of $60
A pole mount will not work being the house itself would block the signal unless it is put on another corner of the house further away from the cables that come out of the house. An eave mount should be OK, but they will need a ladder. The eave is about 4' taller than normal due to the house being built on about 4' of blocks. It is a single story home. Plus I want what is done free.
Any installer that works in the area regularly should know how the house are built up over sloped lots.The reason I started this thread was I knew installers where not allowed on roofs anymore, but I did not know the rule about using extension ladders. The roofline is lower at the front of the house, but the cables would have to be run to the back where the house cables are. I prefer the back location if I had any choice in the matter.
Poles fill up with water when it rains and rust from the inside out.
I've had to replace dozens in my 8 years that snapped from the rust and high winds.
If concrete isn't poured down below the frost line, over time, it will force it's way up. In some places, the Frost line is 5'+. No tech has the ability to dig that deep and the poles are only 6-7' tall.
Poles are the most damaged mounts. People hit them with their lawnmowers, kids hang off of them, or they get bumped into and Dish spends a lot of money to go out and repair/replace them
We don't use concrete anymore, we use expanding foam which costs more than concrete.
Also, the poles we use HAVE a flat spot in them and the 2 trips you mentioned are also wrong. On the first trip, the dish goes on a temp-mount,. The 2nd trip is to allow Dig Safe/Julie to mark the ground and then the pole gets set and the cable buried. Which again, costs more money for a 2nd Truck roll.
The distance from the house has nothing to do with grounding. BUT, Dish only buries 50' for free. After that, it's a dollar a foot in $50.00 increments. so a 51' Cable Trench is $50.00. 101' Trench is $100.00
Also, we don't use Silicone, we use Bishop's tape or Pitch-Patch which bonds with the asphalt and why we can only do roof mounts to asphalt shingles. Try and take a dish off a roof that was properly sealed after a few months and the shingles are coming with it, so no, when it's done right, they don't "make enough of a crack that water is allowed to enter".
Where there is an issue is improper mounting. Not using a roof joist to anchor the dish, not sealed properly and not tightened down although you are right about wind. What happens is the force of the wind, when not secured properly, weakens the wood and the lags will start to pull out and THAT'S where water gets in or the dish starts to "move" weakening it more over time.
And your statement " So why do installers do roof mounts? Because it's not their house and they just don't care, but also because by the time the damage becomes apparent to the homeowner they will most likely be long gone, either retired or in some other line of work." is just ignorant. Unless you work in an industry where people typically "just don't care".
Make sure you have say in where the dish goes as long as there is line of sight. I see so many dishes put up in places that are not aesthetically pleasingA pole mount will not work being the house itself would block the signal unless it is put on another corner of the house further away from the cables that come out of the house. An eave mount should be OK, but they will need a ladder. The eave is about 4' taller than normal due to the house being built on about 4' of blocks. It is a single story home. Plus I want what is done free.
The reason I started this thread was I knew installers where not allowed on roofs anymore, but I did not know the rule about using extension ladders. The roofline is lower at the front of the house, but the cables would have to be run to the back where the house cables are. I prefer the back location if I had any choice in the matter.
This is why I want it at the back corner of the house. I checked and it will have line of sight.
You can go to Home Depot and get a piece of fence post (For 1 5/8 mounts) cheap. Or you can spend another $30 to get one of those gator poles that are bent at the bottom and will not rust out for several years.
I asked my boss why we wouldn’t get the better poles, and he said that a majority of the customers would refuse to pay the extra money, and we would end up eating the cost of installing it for free or risk loosing the entire sale.
It was better to use the cheap polls, and if it rusted out in 4-5 years go back out and replace it for free. Chances are the customer wouldn’t be a customer that long, or they would call Dish directly or someone else to replace it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Dude, we get the poles that Dish uses and sends us from Dish Distribution centers. You must work for a retailer or a small sub
Similar threads
