So THIS is roof raking.......

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

"Oh yeah, they had insulation. It just wasn't pink. And we have added some insulation over the last 100 years. Oddly enough, you can put it in an old house. Leads to less heat loss from the "envelope". The sun also melts the snow off the roof but still no ice dams, no snow overload, nothing. Matter of fact I can't remember anyone in town who had too much snow and have their roof collapse. The old timers knew what they were doing. Too many engineers involved now."

Whoops, must have heard the wrong profession at the MUBEC class. I was sure they said "design engineers"; which, thinking about it, may be an architect. Or maybe the instructor got the nomenclature incorrect. Just making the statement that things are made too complicated nowadays,. In my humble opinion.

True....like tarpaper or felt as a vapor barrier under clapboard siding was just fine for 200 years but now we have to use Tyvek. It will cost me $15,000 to remove the cedar clapboards from the rest my barn, remove the Tyvek from the sheathing, reside it and paint it again. I have had to paint the barn EVERY SUMMER since it was built in 2000 because the Tyvek pushes moisture through the clapboards and blows the paint right off. I don't know a builder that will use the stuff anymore for fear of law suits. Tyvek does not work in Maine. We get too much moisture in the air and too much daily temperature fluctuation. Tarpaper works just fine.

[Northern Matt]

Is raking a regular thing in Maine winters?

Looks a bit of fun. Or, do you get people out to do it for you?

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Northern Matt

Is raking a regular thing in Maine winters?

Looks a bit of fun. Or, do you get people out to do it for you?

It isn't fun. It's hard on the arms. We only have to do it when we get a foot or more of snow on the roof. That doesn't happen all that often. I haven't had to rake this winter yet.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Due to heavy snow loads you can't find people to shovel roofs. Anybody who will do this work is already busy. Sooner or later it will melt and those ice dams at your eaves will trap water. It will leak into your home if you don't have a membrane under your shingles.

One remedy is those salt pucks you toss up onto the roof. they are calcium chloride and they quickly melt down through the snow to the roof. Then the salt water makes a path to the eaves which allows water to run off safely.

Let's see; nobody to shovel roofs and now you can't find the salt pucks. Everybody is sold out. The Home Depot store manager in Ellsworth found a solution. Take an old pair of panty hose, dump 1/4 cup of calcium chloride in the toe and tie off the salt Snip the closed pouch and repeat. Toss those up onto your roof. They will melt down through the snow. In the spring after the salt is dissolved the pieces of panty hose will blow off your roof.

Yankee ingenuity. Hey, for a lot of people it's safer than shoveling roofs.

[Submariner]

Salt pucks; neat idea.

If you filled a coffee cup with road salt, added a bit of water and set it on a woodstove; I think it would would form a 'puck' once the water had boiled away.