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after spending a few hours yesterday clearing snow off the roof, i was wondering if it was necessary and had a few questions. does the age of the house affect if you should do it. has anyone on the forum experienced a roof collape- do you know what factors contributed to the collapse. any other thoughts or ideas would be appreciated .
Roof Raking is most useful to prevent ice backing up under shingles
Raking your roof this year is a good idea to prevent ice from backing up under the shingles as freeze + thaw cycles. Most of the snow we've had this year seems to be fairly dry/ vs. the wet heavy snow, although a good warm spell with rain could weigh it down some. the dry 'cold' weather snow could easily become dangerous for roof collapses. the ice dam problem has more to how your attic is insulated. If heat from the house is allowed to melt snow higher up the roof it will create the dams at the usually colder lower edges of your roof making dams. To fight the dams, concentrate on the bottom 2 feet or so. Yet another reason why metal roofs are a good investment. Ice dams are nearly impossible for metal roofs to hold the dams, given their smooth surface and ability to pass thermal energy to break the ice dam bond.
I lived in Derry for 22 years and in that time, I had a problem only once. Before that time, I never raked the roof. The split-level house was built in 74 . It had a fairly wide roof with a low pitch. However, I first realized I had a problem when I struggled to open the sliding glass door onto the deck. It stuck. That was weird.
So I went outside and around the house to see what, exactly, was the problem? The snow had drifted across the roof and against the wide chimney on the end. There must have been 6 feet of snow piled up over the dining room...holy moley!!!!
Needless to say, I spent the rest of the morning shoveling and made sure to keep an eye on it in the future.
I roof rake my outbuildings only. They aren't heated so the snow just piles up. My inefficient house seems to take care of the snow on the roof.
I guess that's why I spend over 3k a year to heat the place...
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Roof Raking is most useful to prevent ice backing up under shingles
