Overweight Of Snow Roofing

However many forecasters are predicting that the upcoming winter season will be unusually harsh in many parts of the u s so it s helpful to know how to identify snow damage to a roof and what to do about it.

Overweight of snow roofing.

Consider removing accumulated snow from your roof to avoid collapse. When the snow melts it creates layers of ice so this overweight of snow and ice can have serious repercussions on the condition of your roof. On average relatively dry snow weighs around 5 pounds a foot while wet snow can tip the scales at more than 20 pounds per foot to calculate the snow load on your roof assume that every inch deep of snow equals 1 25 pounds. 3 5 inches of old snow is equal to one inch of water or about 5 lbs.

On average two feet of snow can equal up to 19 tons of weight on your roof which can significantly weaken the structure. In most cases excessive snow accumulation on a roof manifests itself in more subtle ways and causes gradual damage over time instead of a sudden calamity. Per square foot of roof space so anything more than 2 feet of snow could be too much for your roof to handle. Overestimation of snow loads can unnecessarily increase the cost of construction.

Your equation for determining snow load s x 1 25 p is fairly straightforward math. If you live in the us our snow load calculator compares the total weight on your roof with the permissible load calculated according to the standards issued by the american society of civil engineers regarding the minimum design loads for buildings and other structures asce7 16. An overweight puts the structure of your roof in jeopardy and this can cause in the worst cases a complete collapse of the roof. They hold the snow in place and keep it from accumulating and then sliding off in large slabs that can be dangerous.

If your roof is 1 000 square feet the total snow load is 15 000 pounds of snow. To figure out the load on your roof take the depth of snow in feet and multiply it by the weight of a cubic foot of snow. People have been killed by snow avalanches sliding off roofs during big snow winters. Per square foot of roof space which is beyond the typical snow load capacity of most roofs.

Two feet of old snow and two feet of new snow could weigh as much as 60 lbs. If the snow weighs 10 pounds per cubic foot and there are 1 5 feet on the roof each square foot of the roof is getting 15 pounds of pressure. S 1 25 p where s is the number of inches of snow on your roof and p is the pounds per square foot of that snow.