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.

Check out these tools that make the job fast easy and safely. Smart way to shovel snow off a roof. Avoid letting the shovel scrape the roof surface by laying it as flat as possible. Try to shave the snow down to a 2 or 3.

Use a shovel to lift piles of snow that have been deposited on flat roofing rather than sweeping it off. It s dangerous and unnecessary according to syracuse. Start from the edge and work your way into the roof. 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.

Make sure you have sufficient room to maneuver your body to enable you to dump the snow on the ground. If there is any ice build up on the roof you need to account for this in the formula. Every time you run a shovel across your roof you remove a few of the tiny granules from your shingles. Add 5 2 lbs for each 1 inch of ice depth.

These handy tools help make the chore of snow shoveling a little easier. 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 oregon winter of 2016 2017 had near record snowfall and several buildings in bend collapsed from the snow load. Removing snow from your roof can be a dangerous job.

Always follow the manufacturers tips list. 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. Don t shovel your roof too frequently.

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. Snow is actually one of the easiest to design for and all. The plastic is less likely to damage your shingles. Use a shovel with a plastic edge not a metal one.

Snow has collected on the roof of this house on eider down path in clay. If you re thinking about shoveling the snow off your roof don t.