Roof Snow Holds

Well there are a lot more variables than just the amount of snow on the roof.

Roof snow holds.

Snow guards are roof mounted at spaced intervals and in two or more rows near the edge of a roof. 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. Roof snow loads indicate the amount of additional force pressing down on a building when snow and ice pile up on the roof during winter storms. How much snow can a roof hold.

The residential code of ohio which applies to one and two family homes shows a map indicating the required snow load. 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. If your roof is 1 000 square feet the total snow load is 15 000 pounds of snow. How much snow can my residential roof hold.

If the gutters are blocked then the melted snow can t run away as it normally would. These occur when snow melts off a roof into the gutters. These questions aren t quite so easy to answer because there are several variables. In turn the ice dam will prevent the mass of snow from sloughing off the roof all at once in a single avalanche.

It calls for 20 psf throughout most of ohio and 25 psf along a north south strip in the eastern half of the state. Instead the water refreezes creating an ice dam. This can also happen if you have metal gutters as the metal holds cold temperatures well.