Snow Load & Roof Clearing

[mrbb]

also consider the AMOUNT of insulation UNDER the roof or NOT

in more modern homes, with better insulation, there is less melting from heat passing thru roof to snow layer
here in my area with a LOT of old homes that many have ZERO insulation, you can drive down a street and see WHO has it and who does, or even parts of a roof that have better insulation , by looking at snow missing from sections

I would also think it can depend on what type of snow your area normally gets too, is it more dry powder, or more often wet heavy snow!!

MY 2 cents IF building, is try and at least have it so you can rake the edges up say 5-6 ft to allow room for water to run off, rather than pond back and form think ice!

 

[Builder Bob]

The building codes are the bare minimum construction standards.
It is common that these bare minimum construction standards are exceeded in construction. Yes it is OK to exceed.
It is also common that construction fails to meet the minimum standards.
After inspection by a competent engineer, it can determined the exact conditions and the expected snow load that the construction can handle.
All is not lost if you want to raise the snow load rating. The inspecting engineer may suggest gussets and or lally columns.
Consider hiring an engineer, sounds expensive, but if you find the right guy, it may be cheap.

 

[Admin]

The best way to go up here (from a cost/safety aspect) is to use engineered trusses. The snow load is something that they take pretty serious up here in the codes. In Keweenaw CO. it is 90 lbs/sq ft. Compare that to the average of 20 in most other areas of the US. The nice thing about engineered trusses are that they are an automatic pass by the inspectors, which take the roofing WAY serious up here. Some other things maybe not so much. :0

But I would say if you are really concerned...or do not want to ever have to worry about moving the snow off your roof, then hiring an engineer is a great way to go!

-John

 

[snobuilder]

The building codes are the bare minimum construction standards.
It is common that these bare minimum construction standards are exceeded in construction. Yes it is OK to exceed.
It is also common that construction fails to meet the minimum standards.
After inspection by a competent engineer, it can determined the exact conditions and the expected snow load that the construction can handle.
All is not lost if you want to raise the snow load rating. The inspecting engineer may suggest gussets and or lally columns.
Consider hiring an engineer, sounds expensive, but if you find the right guy, it may be cheap.

That is absolutely incorrect. Snowloads are akin to 100 year flood plain precautions. They are engineered for a worse case scenario winter snow load in a given area. Cut the crap. Way too many insurance companies involved to call it a bare minimum.

 

[frnash]

Consider this report of (click →) three recent roof collapse events in Houghton county.

Note in particular this "Rule of thumb":

"The normal 'rule of thumb' is to shovel off roofs every 100 inches of snow. But this year’s odd weather patterns have produced more wet snow and periods of thaw and refreezing have resulted in more ice.

"The mixture means that roofs are bearing more weight than in a normal winter."

I wonder what y'all (Builder Bob in particular) would have to say about the merits of that "rule of thumb"?

 

[snobuilder]

Consider this report of (click →) three recent roof collapse events in Houghton county.

Note in particular this "Rule of thumb":I wonder what y'all (Builder Bob in particular) would have to say about the merits of that "rule of thumb"?

rule of thumb?...adding your weight, with a shovel, to any of those 3 old roof collapses seem like a good idea?....LOL

 

[mezz]

rule of thumb?...adding your weight, with a shovel, to any of those 3 old roof collapses seem like a good idea?....LOL

It means they should have been tended to much sooner. We have had so many variations in temperatures , this coupled with the wet heavy snows, rain mixed with snow, sleet & just plain rain on a few occasions, this has really added to the overall weight. Dangerous combination.-Mezz