How To Shovel Snow Off A Flat Roof

Serious injury can result from sliding off a roof and structural damage can result as a result of excess snow accumulation.

How to shovel snow off a flat roof.

Don t shovel your roof too frequently. Add 5 2 lbs for each 1 inch of ice depth. Every time you run a shovel across your roof you remove a few of the tiny granules from your shingles. If you re thinking about shoveling the snow off your roof don t.

Wind seismic building weight furniture occupants etc. Use a shovel with a plastic edge not a metal one. 20 inch roof snow depth x 1 25 lbs sq ft 25 lbs per sq ft of snow load in this example you should shovel it off since it is very close to the roof s limit. These handy tools help make the chore of snow shoveling a little easier.

Use a shovel to lift piles of snow that have been deposited on flat roofing rather than sweeping it off. Removing snow from your roof can be a dangerous job. Snow has collected on the roof of this house on eider down path in clay. Flat roofs can t possibly support all the extra weight a totally valid concern but rest assured your architect and engineer have this in mind when designing the roof structure.

Using a lightweight shovel with a telescoping handle shovel the snow off of the roof gently. Try to shave the snow down to a 2 or 3. The oregon winter of 2016 2017 had near record snowfall and several buildings in bend collapsed from the snow load. Check out these tools that make the job fast easy and safely.

Make sure you have sufficient room to maneuver your body to enable you to dump the snow on the ground. Shovel down to within an inch of the surface for best results. It s dangerous and unnecessary according to syracuse. You never want shovel all the way to the roof s surface because it is easy to knick or scratch the roof s coating.

The plastic is less likely to damage your shingles. If there is any ice build up on the roof you need to account for this in the formula. Start from the edge and work your way into the roof. Certainly the weight of snow can add up but your home must support a variety of loads.

Use a snow rake for pitched roofs available at most hardware stores to remove snow from your roof. Avoid letting the shovel scrape the roof surface by laying it as flat as possible.