Snow Loads

[Onthesauk]

We had nine feet of snow at our house last winter over the course of 5 weeks and then some rain. I remember lying in bed one night and calculating, (in my head,) that we probably had somewhere between 70 and 90 tons of snow on the roof.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

That is why I have a 2 foot overhang all the way around:

I used 1' overhang.
I have used a snow rake to pull snow off a roof before after a big storm. I've got some pretty big drifts on my house right now, but we've had some warm days so it is melting down.

 

[Couple of Achers]

Here is what sliding snow can do. I had 2-3 feet of snow on this roof. That was up until Christmas when we got 37 degrees and rain. The whole mass let go all at once and the flue pipe for the furnace was no match. It is/was double wall, 4" pipe. It bent it over right at roof level and flattened it. Took the storm collar and cap right off. So much for heat in my garage this winter.

 

[Redneck in training]

Here is what sliding snow can do. I had 2-3 feet of snow on this roof. That was up until Christmas when we got 37 degrees and rain. The whole mass let go all at once and the flue pipe for the furnace was no match. It is/was double wall, 4" pipe. It bent it over right at roof level and flattened it. Took the storm collar and cap right off. So much for heat in my garage this winter.

Farther of friend of mine parked his almost new car on the side of a four story buliding years ago. When he came back the car was compltely flatened by snow fallen from the roof. When the snow was cleaned off the engine was imprinted in the hood and the broken seats were imprinted in the roof.