Should I Shovel the Snow off my Roof?

Per JavaHead:

ADMIN: if you see this - could you edit the post (removing the link) due to it referencing superseded information? Thanks.

From NY State - Dept. of State:

[Link Removed - due to Superseded Standard]

This might help get you started.

This document is based on the old ASCE 7-98 Standard, and has been greatly revised several times since it's publication.

The current standard is ASCE 7-10 "Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures". It is scheduled to be superseded in 2016 with ASCE 7-16.

Thanks for pointing that out...

ADMIN: if you see this - could you edit the post (removing the link) due to it referencing superseded information? Thanks.

No sense in having outdated information out there - lest it propagate ;-)

Edit: And that is one of the issues with sending the ill-informed out into Google Land. I consider myself slightly informed and the above is a prime example how easy it is to get 'bad/wrong' information from a seemingly 'reputable' source.

You're welcome.

8" to 14" is something I would not worry about, particularly if the wind blows it off, which tells me it is probably a lightweight snow.

Other factors would be when the house was built. Generally, the newer the construction the better the capacity of the roof.

Your bigger worry may be falling off the roof and unless you have significantly more snowfall to add to the amount already up there I would leave it alone.

What do your neighbors do?

I'd say snow load on the roof is most critical.

Sadly, living in Arizona, I have no practical experience with this.

Is not only the snow load on your roof, it's when it melts and refreezes. The ice can creep under you shingles and when that melts then you have ice melt leaking between your windows or inside the house (depending on the weather). And the ice on your roofs eves creats a dam and compound the problems.

Ice dam formation has more to do with attic ventilation, insulation, and overhang of the eves. If the melting occurs due to heat loss from underneath and the melted water refreezes because the eves overhang and there is little or no heat loss from underneath, then you have two things; an ice dam, and a problem.

Agreed

What's snow? I would probably build a slide......so no help here....

Then again when you get a lemon, you're a make lemonade kind a guy.

So what your saying he should open a snow cone stand. Remove it a scope at a time.

Italian lemon ice....

You're a certifited 'merkin - every situation has a positive angle. Brits would make a depressive soap opera about it. I could go on, but I'd have to regail you all with depressing snow stories and stuff about weather.,,far be it from me to harp on about winter being worse over here a few decades back.......

As I was saying,,,,,, I vividly recall falling into a 10' ditch of snow one winter when I was all but 3' tall. Had it not been for some of the elder kids I'd have ended up like Tollund Man. Shaddup up all ye who think it might have been for the better ! Times were hard, and if opportunity had presented my elder sis would have been in that ditch. Kind fate has left her with a house that has a flat roof extension. The things are a nightmare in general, but the thought of snow is funny. She ain't no engineer, and the day may come when there's payback.

Why the question ? Shovel it offf as much as possible when you get a window of oportunity. Before you slice me, bear in mind this is not a problem that often occurs in Blighty.

Just looking at that gives me the chills, I am so happy I live in Houston now ;-)

I have had my fill of Great Lake Snow Effect.

I am so happy I live in Houston now ;-)
Houston, voted the worse drivers in the US. I am down the street in Baytown. We dont need to worry about snow.

Yeah - I would have to agree on the caliber of drivers here, but proportionally-speaking I think the ratio might be the same... there are just so many more here.

LOL.. been there done that. Five years ago my son snow boarded from the peak of the garage to a landing ramp very similar to your pic. As the father I just held my breath. Thanks for refreshing the memory!

Also found:

http://design.medeek.com/resources/snow/snow_calculator.pl

Which requires Ground Snow Load, which can be gotten from:

http://design.medeek.com/resources/snow/newyorkgroundsnowloads.html

Based on personal experience, when I use to live in Chardon, Ohio (snow belt) I used 24" as my threshold. Anything above that, I'd climb up. But mostly because mine would usually drift with one side almost completely devoid of snow and the other quite covered.

But, as AH said, you're likely good.

A foot of snow should be no problem- assuming 50% water content that's still only about 30 psf deadload (water weighs around 62 lbs per cubic foot). If you're still unsure, call the local building department and check to see what code requirements for roof loading were when your house was built.

The problem is not what snow is on the roof now, it is what might be added to it in the next month before it can melt off. The greatest threat is cold rain. When the temperature is below about 40º F, rain will not melt snow. The snow just absorbs the rain like a sponge. The 50% water content will quickly become near 100% water content.

I would stay off the roof at all costs unless it is absolutely necessary. Roofs are never meant to be tread on, shoveled, or slid down! Not only for the safety reasons....keeping your footing on a sloped, slippery surface, but for the damage that can be done to the roof itself. In cold weather, asphalt shingles are very brittle and easily damaged by impact.

Roofers in your area are set to get rich, once the great melt-off commences and all the new leaks in the roof reveal themselves.

Thanks and great feedback from everyone. I've done more research and found that 1 ft3 of snow can weigh any wear from 1 lb to 21 lbs depending on the moisture saturation level. I also learned that the trusses used for my house are rated at 60lbs per square foot. So that basically tells me that I can take up to 3 feet of the wettest nastiest snow before I'll have a problem. Snow drifts could be a potential problem for others but it doesn't apply to my situation. I think I'm going to stay off the roof.

Before anyone gets on a snow covered roof I think it would be a good idea to talk to their local building codes department to get a better understanding of their roofs strength.

reference: http://building.cdaid.org/images/Handouts/Shovel%20Roof%20Snow.pdf

Sounds good to me. Crack open a cold one, sit back and wait for the snow to go away

Good choice. But when it starts to melt & refreeze and melt and refreeze, if you have the usual shingle roof you may start leaking at the overhang and just above. There are ways to remove it from the ground if it is a single story house. Either way if you are over 50 years old you don't have the balance and strong bones you once had and should stay off the roof. At 74 I solved the problem by moving to Dallas Tx. No more snow problems but it seems I can't get away from ice on the ground. Busted an arm falling off the ground a while back. So who am I to talk.

I know that in #14 you decided that you do not have a problem but ... if the snow is light enough that some of it blows off would an electric leaf blower allow you to dramatically reduce the amount of snow on the roof?

First off, congrats on having snow on the roof. People will say 'what the heck', but it's commonplace in Blighty to see some houses devoid of snow in a heavy winter- the house is leaking heat.

Upstate NY is a different kettle of fish. How you need to react depends upon pitch of roof and it's construction, not to mention wind loading. The unstated question is about will this cause roof collapse(?).

Even with full load data I'd be very wary of suggesting limits.

Take this with a huge pinch of salt (pun aside, you could chuck it up there), if you are comfortable with working 'roped up', I'd get up there and shove some of it off before the risk of any more. Most constructions will take a foot of snow, but do you want to risk it getting worse. That is a very arbitrary opinion and complete guess, all I can offer is that weather permitting I'd try clean it down it bit if/when you can.

"First off, congrats on having snow on the roof."

I thought you were talking about hair.

Nice try. I'm sure there's still smoke in the chimney.

Roger that. ;-)

How the flip did you know he was on my tick-llist of blogs to visit !!!! He somehow publishes them faster than I can read them.

I've not the foggiest if this works...

.-- .... --- / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. / - .... .. -. -.- / - .... .- - / .- - / -... . -.-. .- -- . / .--. .- .-. - / --- ..-. / -- --- .-. ... .

"Who would think that at became part of Morse"

Sounds like one of those silly adverts we get on CR4 from time to time. ;-)

Strange but true... The silly sods should have asked CR4 members to vote, the place woukld have errupted with suggestions. '@' seems sensible, but if somebody can send an email, then....

This has nothing to do with the question at hand, but pondering this might be safer than going outside in blizzard conditions. Besides, you just never know when Morse might come in handy ().

I do not miss shoveling snow from my roof, the sidewalk, and the driveway nor the wind.

Snow loading can be very harmful to your home and needs to be removed before the depth and weight of the snow exceeds the roof load rating.

The moisture content of snow varies making it very hard to estimate the weight therefore it is a good idea to keep the snow removed when it is around a foot deep so that your weight in addition to the weight of the snow does not exceed the roof load rating.

If you do shovel the snow off, begin at the edge and clear a path at least 3' x 3' where you are going to stand before you transfer your weight onto the roof surface and keep a 3' x 3' open area void of snow around you at all times while shoveling.

Also; Be aware that there will be ice under the snow and depending on the roof pitch it can be hazardous to your health so use a safety harness and rope or cable to tie off to so that you do not slide off and fall from the roof.

Don't tie off to a vehicle unless you control all of the ignition keys. My buddy did that in the past and when his wife came out of the house and took off in the truck to the store he got one hell of a ride over the peak of the roof and down to the ground then to the hospital.

Duh Snow Rake

Do Not Do anything, leave the snow on the roof alone! It will be dangerous for anyone to climb up on any pitched roof at this time of the year!

My NY house was built in 1937, typically pitched with slates as roofing material which are very slippery, specially when wet! Through all these years, whatever snow accumulations on it just either melted or breaks into chunks and slides down on their own without anybody's intervention! Specially true after a couple of continued sunny day exposures...

Multi-dwelling apartment buildings are normally different since they mostly have flat roofs??

If it's a flat, level roof: I'd consider it.

If it's a sloped or peaked roof: Fuggedaboutit! You don't want to break you neck falling off the roof. It's pointed like the top of your head for a reason, ya biscotti!

(I hope I did a good 'New Yowk' accent on that response. If it was a poor rendition, or if it's 'too good,' I appologize.)

When i was in upstate NY (still have a PAID FOR house there) i took some M80s and threw them on the roof. Started a mini avalanche.

If it's wet snow, I would get a stepladder and a hoe or a rake and pull off what I could reach, and forget the rest.

What would I do? I'd move to somewhere it doesn't snow. Although I've had similar problems with leaf and branch accumulation on roofs. Rotten leaves are slippery. No escaping some chores.

What did you do last time you had snow on the roof?

How about opening the attic door and letting some warm air in to heat the roof a bit so it heats the roof/melts the underside of the snow and watch it slide off...probably onto your head when you slam the front door on the way out to work.

I've had to deal with ice accumulation on towers. For some reason, 2m long falling icicles were deemed hazardous. Removal involved a very large mobile crane with a man bucket and a man in it swinging a bit of 4x2 at the structure.

Try whacking the snow off.....or....get a piece of 4x2 and a hammer drill with a big bit or a chisel bit, climb up to the eaves using a stable ladder with your kit, don't attempt to get on the roof, place the 4x2 on the roof or barge board and let rip with hammer drill against the bit of 4x2. Alternatively, if you have one, a concrete compactor (vibrator) would shake things up nicely too.

Make sure somebody is video recording the process.

It mostly depends on the pitch of the roof. Living in a ranch type house, my rule of thumb, if snow has accumulated to about 10 inches and you are expecting rain or freezing rain, cleare at least half way to the peak across the entire roof. At a foot or more, remove the most you can. The more the pitch, the less worry there is. If it is hard to walk on due to pitch, do not worry.

by the time this post finally fades away, and if you have not made a decision yet, it will be July, and the snow will (hopefully) be long gone

If you can safely do so: YES!

I had a friend who moved to Vermont and moved into a new home, Cape Cod style, he had built. The contractor advised him to buy a "snow rake" and he thought that his leg was being pulled since he was from New Jersey and moving north. After a particularly heavy overnight snow storm on top of earlier accumulation, he went to go out his front door. It wouldn't budge and neither would the back door. He called the contractor who then asked if he had bought a snow rake and kept the roof cleared. The contractor came over, cleared the roof, jacked up the beams in the basement to fix the settling issue due to the extra weight. I used a 25 foot aluminum handle snow rake to clear off the gutter areas as far back as I could due to water leakage through the window areas under the overhang because of ice damming. My advice, buy a snow rake, use it and call it preventive maintenance. It's cheaper than replacing sheetrock.

Be careful when you are up to such works. I have my indoor cleaning done by professional house cleaners at Orangeville ( http://www.handimaids.com/services/recurring-cleaning/ ) since I am allergic to dust. It always helps me to stay healthy. Dont go to do things if you are at risk. Dealing with snow, that too on roof, It's always advisable to seek help. Hope this helps!

I think the number one factor would be when the house was built. Generally, the newer the construction the better the capacity of the roof. Hope you fix it.

Snow would have melted by now.

This might be a good time to install some permanent roof access ladder supports and work anchorage points.

All the rage in Oz. (for cleaning leaves and general maintenance not shovelling snow but same sort of shite happens)