roof/snow removal

[gaseousclay]

anyone ever have this done? I'm thinking of calling someone to have the foot or so of snow and ice removed from our roof. I keep hearing creaking noises and it's starting to freak me out. the last thing I want is for our roof to cave in when it's 0º outside. plus, i'm worried we might get water damage if there happens to be an ice dam somewhere. any ideas what I can expect to pay for this type of service?

[luvmysuper]

Go out and buy a Roof Rake. Pretty cheap, on an extended aluminum pole. Removes snow and ice to prevent damage from ice dams.
Any decent sized hardware store should have them.
Google Roof Rake snow removal

Looks like this

[gaseousclay]

I would, unfortunately, that recent blast of snow we got here in Minnesota over x-mas has turned to ice and with tempertures below 0 it makes snow removal from the roof pretty difficult. the majority of snow around the house, driveway, sidwalks, yard and roof has turned to hard packed ice. I keep hoping it'll start warming up so the snow will melt but that doesn't appear likely. i'm afraid the dead weight from the snow and ice will come crashing through our roof and into our house. I think i'm gonna need a professional service to take care of it, otherwise i'm gonna be cruisin' for a bruisin'

[luvmysuper]

Well good luck with it. I have never used a service, so I can be of no help in directing you to one.
I hope you find some good people.

[dpm802]

I would suggest compare notes with your neighbors and see what they have done in winters past. Probably, they are facing the same thing you are. Perhaps one of them has the phone number of a snow-removal service, and you can split the cost when the crew comes to clean the entire block.

[airplanedoc]

All I know is that my cousins in Canada frequently have to shovel their roof.

If you are getting any direct sun, you could always try black plastic, to melt snow and ice underneath.

[_JP_]

A foot of snow on the roof I don't worry about. It's the ice dams that cause the damage, so I put my efforts into eliminating those.

[Alacrity59]

Yes . . . I agree with LoveMySuper . . . if you have a foot or so all over get it off and a roof rake is a fine tool. The foot of snow is probably OK but what you need to think about is what is coming next. If it is only like six inches at the edge . . . well I'd not worry but it is very much a judgment call.

[Brad31]

the neighbors kid, a couple of gallons of warm tap water, a shovel, and a $20 bill should suffice lol.

[faster_than_u]

Some advice from a roofer here. What pitch is your roof? What style of roof. Also what type of shingles are on it. Those all depend on what you can do. If you reply with some details I can recommend a few things

[Sue]

When we lived in Wisconsin, during the transition to moving here, I was by myself with the kids while my husband had already started working in St. Louis. We had so much snow the roof started creaking (the pitch should have been higher). Outside of Milwaukee we'd get a lot of the lake effect snow.

The boys and I climbed on the roof and shoveled it ourselves. To me, the worst was climbing a ladder in pacs. Unless you are in great health, you shouldn't be shoveling snow though.
Sue

[chainfire]

the neighbors kid, a couple of gallons of warm tap water, a shovel, and a $20 bill should suffice lol.

you haven't met my neighbors' kid. :lol:

Seriously tho, if a snow rake can't work for you, I'd definitely pay more for a bonded/insured pro to do it than worry about insurance concerns of sending some kid up with a shovel who could get seriously hurt.

[Bertilak]

When living in upstate NY I used water from the hose to melt ice dams. Takes work and time but I could not think of a better way as I did not trust myself to keep from falling off an icy two story roof.

My approach was to cut drain paths every few feet leaving individual sections of the dam. Then directing the water above each of the resulting ice sections caused the whole section to slide off in one chunk. That was much faster than trying to melt everything. But watch out below!

EDIT: My hot water heater was in the garage so I think I used hot water to do this but it's been 15 years so my memory fails me on that detail.

[tnewswander]

If you need to get up on the roof, Home Depot sells (or used to sell - you can also google it) something called the "Rooftop Safety Kit" for $99 (more online). It consists of an anchor for the ridge of your roof and a safety harness & tie-off rope. You'd have to clear the snow from part of the ridge to attach the anchor (and determine where studs are from the attic - I found my midpoint stud, put small nails from the attic up around the stud to mark it, then found the nails on the roof to determine my anchor location, then nailed the anchor down into the stud). Then whenever you go up you safety move to the anchor location on the roof, tie-off, then do your work.

[gaseousclay]

Some advice from a roofer here. What pitch is your roof? What style of roof. Also what type of shingles are on it. Those all depend on what you can do. If you reply with some details I can recommend a few things

i'm not entirely certain what the pitch of our roof is - i'd guess 7/12. we have asphalt shingles that had been installed in the last 5 yrs from what I can gather. I wouldn't even think of climbing on my own roof to remove the snow and I don't know how effective a roof rake would be since there seems to be a lot of ice formation now. my primary concerns are 1) damage to the roof from the weight of the snow and 2) ice dams which can lead to potential water damage in the future.

[thunderball]

Growing up in Canada, my dad always sent me up to shovel the roof...had a few mini-slides and found myself in the snowbank under the eaves more than once. :blushing:

[ouch]

Some codes call for a rubber underlayment 4' up to protect from ice damming. Why they don't cover the entire roof with it is beyongd me. Oh yeah- money.

[82R100]

i'm not entirely certain what the pitch of our roof is - i'd guess 7/12. we have asphalt shingles that had been installed in the last 5 yrs from what I can gather. I wouldn't even think of climbing on my own roof to remove the snow and I don't know how effective a roof rake would be since there seems to be a lot of ice formation now. my primary concerns are 1) damage to the roof from the weight of the snow and 2) ice dams which can lead to potential water damage in the future.

Very good idea to stay off of the roof. Every year we see a couple of deaths locally from people climbing up to address ice dams.

Are you in a neighborhood of houses built at the same time (of similar architecture)? My guess would be that if the houses are similar you should be able to determine from your neighbors what's necessary and what isn't.

- Chris

[gaseousclay]

Are you in a neighborhood of houses built at the same time (of similar architecture)? My guess would be that if the houses are similar you should be able to determine from your neighbors what's necessary and what isn't.

- Chris

i'd say quite a few of the houses were built around the same time, but then again, quite a few weren't, so it's a mixed bag of styles/architecture. my nextdoor neighbors for example, have a house similar to ours, yet different. the windows are built the same but they have a basement and we don't. the pitch of their roof isn't as steep as ours either and they have a detached garage, whereas ours is attached. I may run to home depot today anyway and look at roof rakes anyway.

[faster_than_u]

i'm not entirely certain what the pitch of our roof is - i'd guess 7/12. we have asphalt shingles that had been installed in the last 5 yrs from what I can gather. I wouldn't even think of climbing on my own roof to remove the snow and I don't know how effective a roof rake would be since there seems to be a lot of ice formation now. my primary concerns are 1) damage to the roof from the weight of the snow and 2) ice dams which can lead to potential water damage in the future.



Some codes call for a rubber underlayment 4' up to protect from ice damming. Why they don't cover the entire roof with it is beyongd me. Oh yeah- money.

If it is a 7/12 I would not go up there in the winter and I am a roofer lol. If they are in fact asphalt then you are good to go with shovelling. just dont do it like you would a side walk you would want hold the shovel at an angle so it wont scrape the shingles. Also at the 7/12 pitch you shouldnt need to worry about shovelling the snow off the only problem is if there is a 4/12 bell then there will be some ice damning but if they papered the bottom then you will be alright(the paper is between 36" to 44" wide).

Also that rubber membrane doesnt do anything and polly is even worse. If you want a membrane on the bottom use ice and water shield it has a sticky side that once you peel the backing off and lay it down it is stuck to the roof deck and 98% of the time to get it off you need to resheet that part of the roof. As to why they dont cover the entire roof with ice and water is because of the added cost. On average a 3000 sq foot roof deck will cost 5-9000 up here so if you were to do the roof deck in ice and water it would add another 1500-2000 do do it all and when you need to redo the roof the cost will be at least double.

[faster_than_u]

If you need to get up on the roof, Home Depot sells (or used to sell - you can also google it) something called the "Rooftop Safety Kit" for $99 (more online). It consists of an anchor for the ridge of your roof and a safety harness & tie-off rope. You'd have to clear the snow from part of the ridge to attach the anchor (and determine where studs are from the attic - I found my midpoint stud, put small nails from the attic up around the stud to mark it, then found the nails on the roof to determine my anchor location, then nailed the anchor down into the stud). Then whenever you go up you safety move to the anchor location on the roof, tie-off, then do your work.

I hope you tarred the holes you put in the shingles if not you may be in for a few leaks. I have seen a nail hole in one shingle do a few thousand $$ worth of damage.

[Mama Bear]

I didn't know what an ice dam was so I looked it up and found this.... http://www.homeimprovementweb.com/information/how-to/ice-dam-removal.htm

[faster_than_u]

This statement makes no sence at all to me ". So even if you don't have a soffit for the water to refreeze in, the melted water will most likely refreeze when flowing into the gutters."

You do not want water or ice in the soffit. And how does it get there? The soffit is under the overhang. If you are standing under the roof overhang and look up that is the soffit so how would water get there? If it is there you have more problems then you know what to do with. Also the part about proper ventilation is very right. Whirly birds are terrible. They tend to freeze up and then you might as well have a giant hole in the roof. Power fans arnt any better unless you are up there oiling them every 6 months or so that is one of the main causes of house fires here.

[82R100]

This statement makes no sence at all to me ". So even if you don't have a soffit for the water to refreeze in, the melted water will most likely refreeze when flowing into the gutters."

You do not want water or ice in the soffit. And how does it get there? The soffit is under the overhang. If you are standing under the roof overhang and look up that is the soffit so how would water get there?

They're using "soffit" as shorthand for "overhang". They're just saying that an ice dam usually forms once the water reaches the unheated part of the roof, over the soffit.

- Chris

[faster_than_u]

They're using "soffit" as shorthand for "overhang". They're just saying that an ice dam usually forms once the water reaches the unheated part of the roof, over the soffit.

- Chris

Ok gotcha it seemed worded weird to me

[gaseousclay]

went to home depot today and picked up a roof rake for $50. it seems to do a fairly decent job at removing snow, however, due to the frozen pack ice, it required a little more work than I thought. the rake itself is made up of 3 aluminum poles that can be attached to form varying lengths - the downside is that the higher up the roof you go, the more pull there is on the rake. it's like reeling in a 300 lb marlin. I got one side of the roof over the garage done and my arms are killing me