Removing Snow on roofs in NH/VT (condo, job)

[Castleriggpekes]

I'm trying to find some comparisons - I had my 1600 square foot ranch house roof shovelled - about 3.5 feet of snow and ice on it and I believe these two men charged a ridiculous amount, saying it took them 16 hours to complete!

What I'd like to know is if any of you paid to have your roofs shoveled and if so:
1. what is the square footage of your house
2. Is it one storey or two
3. How many hours did it take to shovel
4. How much snow was on it (approximately).
5. What was the total cost.

Any information you can give me would be most appreciated.

[nicolem]

Well I do not know how long it should take -but 3.5 feet of snow and ice on a 1600 sq foot home is A LOT. We had some water leaking in our condo and I watched them remove the snow and ice off of just a little portion of the roof and it took a while. If the ice had been there a while and the snow froze on top of it it could take a while to get through. Sorry I don't have specifics about cost-hopefully someone will know more.

Nicolem

[DareToDream]

I can't help you with the price either - we bought a roof rake for under $50 and after each snow, hubby rakes the roof, so we've never had to have it cleared off by a professional.

[bryfry]

Originally Posted by DareToDream

I can't help you with the price either - we bought a roof rake for under $50 and after each snow, hubby rakes the roof, so we've never had to have it cleared off by a professional.

Roof rake, definately. We have one for our house in the Berkshires, and it works awesome. My dad found one that's made in Canada, I'll have to find out the brand. I think it was around $80 but it's built really well.

Maybe the 16 hours is billing for two workers (i.e. 8 hours per guy)?

Anyway, 3.5 feet of snow is a ton of snow. That's a lot of work. I would think they could have done it in a day, so maybe have them redefine the reason for 16 hrs.

[GregW]

Let us see: 1600 ft sq x 3.5 ft x 40 lb per cuft = 224,000 lb / 2000 lb per ton = 112 tons. Good thing you had the snow removed no matter what it cost. This is why flat roofs collapse in snow country. A better design is a steeply slopped 12/12 roof covered with nice slippery sheet metal. Better the snow should slide off than risk collapsing the roof.

[buck naked]

I've had to rake my roof all winter, but in the last big dump, I used my shovel because the rake just didn't cut it. It was back breaking work and it took TWO days for me to complete the job, but I was all alone. I was so tired, I didn't think I could make it back down the ladder.


A couple of times I slipped and thought for sure I was heading over the edge. I only hoped that the snow was so deep that I might not get hurt. After awhile, I relaxed and was able to finish the job without falling off. Hurt for two days afterwards. I've decided that no matter how much snow we get for the rest of the year, I'm not clearing the roof again.

[rmcewan]

Originally Posted by GregW

Let us see: 1600 ft sq x 3.5 ft x 40 lb per cuft = 224,000 lb / 2000 lb per ton = 112 tons. Good thing you had the snow removed no matter what it cost. This is why flat roofs collapse in snow country. A better design is a steeply slopped 12/12 roof covered with nice slippery sheet metal. Better the snow should slide off than risk collapsing the roof.

Well put Greg. Poster is lucky they didn't lose the house with 3.5ft on board!!
Of course, the roof area of a 1600 sq ft house is greater than 1600 sq ft. I understand snow weight can range from 10lb/cuft for new snow to 50+ for densely packed/part ice. Is 40lb/cuft a standard for engineering?

Anybody use these?... Amazon.com: M-D Building Products 100-Foot Roof and Gutter Heating Cable #64501: Home Improvement

[rmcewan]

In answer to the posters questions on price:

Price is relative to demand, risk and the value of the end result not just the effort.
Demand: Number of punters wanting roofs cleared before next storm.
Risk: working on a slick roof in danger of collapsing
Value: Roof doesn't collapse saving owner tens of thousands.

[GregW]

I used 40 lb/cuft as an estimate. I do not have the data handy but snow weighs around 10 lb/cuft and liquid water 62.2 lb/cuft so I just use 2/3 as a reasonable number for very bad conditions. Even if you use 10 lb/cuft it is still a respectable load around 8 tons.

The roof area is larger than the plan area but the verticle load is based on the plan because gravity acts downward.