Keep the snow on the roof or not?

[DixyDoodle]

Ok, not a real thought-provoking question I suppose, but I got to thinking this while driving home. I saw several people with roof rakes, cleaning the snow off. We had a really good dumping of snow the last couple of days.

Here's the two theories I've heard from people:

1/Unless the snow is heavy enough that it might actually damage the roof, leave it on, as the insulating properties will help keep heat in your house.

OR

2/Take the snow off if it's more than a dusting. Snow is white and your roof is probably dark-coloured, therefore the roof will attract the sun's heat more, allowing it to warm up the attic air, hence warming the house.

What do you think?

DD

PS> Not really an issue at our house, since ours is deeply sloped and it all pretty much falls off except at the porch.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

The reason they take it off here (if it doesn't slide off itself) is because of the cumulative weight. Our neighbor fell off the roof of his house 3 years ago and died while shoveling his roof. We made sure our roof was steeply enough pitched.

[FrankTheTank]

Doodle~

I've thought about the same thing. I leave ours on until the temps start climbing in March, then i try to get more of it off.

Now what if you have a roof that has one side facing south and one side facing north? Do you rake the south half and leave the north half? Mine is like this...

[rambler]

Ice dams are the issue up here.

Your roof should be vented, so there should be no issue at all for insulating or sun heating. It's not supposed to work that way at all.

If it does, you end up with ice dams.

--->Paul

[uncle Will in In.]

If the snow will damage the roof, it's best to get it off. If all that concerns you is heat loss or gain, the work and bodily risk involved would far out weigh your savings.

[Cabin Fever]

Linda in Idaho is right. Roofs are designed to hold a certain amount of weight. If the snow weight exceeds the roof’s design weight, you can have a cave in. I’ve seen several in Minnesota (during other years’ of course).

Another reason to remove snow….especially on poorly insulated homes or homes with poor attic ventilation….is to prevent ice dams. An ice dam on the edge of the roof can cause melt water to flow below the shingles and ruin ceilings, insulation and exterior walls.

The best roof rake in the world, bar none, is the Avalanche roof rake This “rake” is actually fun to use!

[Cornhusker]

Learn something new every day.
I've never heard of a roof rake.

[Michael W. Smith]

As has been said, the reason people take the snow off of the roofs is not due to "heating or insulating values". It's to prevent cave ins!

While white fluffy snow doesn't weigh too much, wait until it warms up and the snow compacts. Add to that, that if it warms up enough and it rains, the snow absorbs the rain water, making even more weight.

People seem to prefer to have their roofs as is, instead of caving in on top of them!

[DixyDoodle]

Here's another thing: my BIL (who used to build houses) said that if you were looking to buy a house in the wintertime, it was always nice to look at it after a small snowstorm. If you compared the house to the neighbouring ones, you would notice that either they all had snow on them, or some were lacking snow. He said that the bare roofs meant that they were not propertly insulated and were losing heat.

[Cascade Failure]

Originally Posted by Cornhusker

Learn something new every day.
I've never heard of a roof rake.

Ever seen an exterior door on the 2nd floor with no stairs?

[cwgrl23]

Originally Posted by Cascade Failure

Ever seen an exterior door on the 2nd floor with no stairs?

The house I grew up in had one of these. It did have a deck though and I do remember my Dad having to go out that door one winter to "find" our front door.

Carrie in SD

[highlands]

If the roof will take the weight I would leave the snow be. It insulates the house and the act of going on the roof to remove the snow can damage the roofing.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://NoNAIS.org

[ricky]

answer is two fold roofer many a year. first if you have 2x6 rafters or even 2x8 chances the snow will be real heavy. snow does not get lighter as it melts so if you think there is a god loade up there get it off. second is this snow blocks gutters and backs ice up under eaves and then you have a real mess. my advice is get the snow off if you can do it safe. if there is only a few inches leave it alonne a foot or more and not much pitch your looking for problems

[seedspreader]

My house is 127 years old, I think we will leave it on our roof. It's done well this long.

[HermitJohn]

Having spent a decade in UP, I can highly recommend a very steep pitched metal roof. Just once you go out the door, dont linger at the drip line or you could get buried in an avalanche. Personally I'd remove snow from roof anytime its over 6 inches and definitely anything over a foot. Old timers say if interior (and exterior) doors start sticking when they werent before the snow, get the snow off pronto as its stressing structural members big time.

Also if ice is common in your area, takes lot less ice to collapse a roof than snow. Big ice or snow storm here in NW Arkansas always means news stories of collapsed commercial chicken houses. They are built to survive "average" storms for the area to save construction cost, so the exceptional one can take them out. Funny dont see roof rakes around here. Would think if I were a chicken farmer I would be aware of how I economized on the construction and want to get weight off those roofs pronto.

[Cabin Fever]

HermitJohn, which is heavier, a pound of snow or a pound of ice?

[whistler]

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

HermitJohn, which is heavier, a pound of snow or a pound of ice?

I think he means 1" of ice is substantially heavier than 1" of snow.

Whistler

[uncle Will in In.]

Never weighed one but an ice ball sure smarts more than a snow ball to the side of the head. OSHA needs to place weight restrictions on them!

[HermitJohn]

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

HermitJohn, which is heavier, a pound of snow or a pound of ice?

Which would you rather have me throw at your head, a 3inch ball of snow or a 3inch ball of ice?

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by HermitJohn

Which would you rather have me throw at your head, a 3inch ball of snow or a 3inch ball of ice?

Hee...hee. Go ahead and try it, you toothless ol' geezer! You couldn't hit the broadside of a barn.....