Snow load on roofs.

[IaGary]

Anybody got a slick way to get the snow off a roof?

There have been a few roofs fall in around here from the snow and ice that are over loading them.

I got one that is loaded pretty heavy.

Same building back in 79 was loaded also.

That year I took 4 space heaters and heated the machine shed for about 30 minutes and all slid off.

This year there is a 20x14 foot door that is froze open and I don't know if I can get it warm enough in there to slide it off.

Might still try the heater thing.

It's a 42x75 foot building with 14' eaves.

Gary

 

[Anonymous-0]

It sounds like you already have the best solution, can you unstuck the doors ? I know how those sliders can be a pain, if that is the type they are. Keep your eye on the roof framing members, hopefully no noticeable deflection or cracks so far. How much snow is on it ?

We have a huge morton building used for a riding arena with an attached barn on one side, not heated, and there is just not enough pitch for the snow to slide off, it just creeps all winter until it's warm enough, the ice just hangs off to the ground, it's always a mess, not sure what they were thinking when it was built. The extension of the roof over that barn is too flat, at least the trusses are real heavy duty. I'm glad I don't have to deal with winter and freeing up the doors over there anymore, I had to use an old bosch electric chipping hammer to break up ice and frost around doors to keep them working, almost every day, makes short work of breaking ice and frosted ground.

 

[Dave in Tx]

Hang a couple tarps over that door and get the heat on Gary. If it is still, it will heat it.

 

[IaGary]

Its about 2 foot deep up there in places.

And yes the purlens are bowed down about 1 inch between the rafters. It is also a Morton Building and no Morton building has ever gone down in this area.

The door is in about 6 inches of ice.

Pacemaker is the one that went down big time in 79.

One that went yesterday use to house a JD dealer in South English.

I guess it was used to store cars, boats and RVs now.

Gary

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hi Gary....Isn't it supposed to be in the 50's this weekend? That's what they're calling for here. Always seems by the time I went to all the work to do something like you're talking, Mother Nature was able to take care of it.

 

[Allan in NE]

Rainin' like crazy here this morning. Help is on the way Gary!

Allan

 

[IaGary]

Yup scot 50 degrees is what I am hoping for here also.

I thought maybe it would go off on Monday when we got that rain.

Did you hear about the building in South English?

Gary

 

[Anonymous-0]

Nope...had'nt heard that. We have been so much luckier than you guys....we've probably only had a third of the accumulation you've had up there. Ahhh...life in the Banana Belt

 

[Anonymous-0]

That won't be a pretty site RV's and probably collector cars. This morton is an early 80's, with some real stout trusses, they must be a good design with lots of safety margin, but I think anything can come down in the right conditions.


An electric chipping hammer would take care of that ice no problem, I've taken out 3 feet in the spring when I needed to get an outside stall door open to a paddock tha that is under an eave, get a hole started, then keep chipping away at a face, just like rock or concrete, it will break nicely, get that heat going inside, and that weather, sounds like you could turn that around easily, and relax knowing it's done, that'd cause me to toss and turn worrying about it. 2 feet is a fair amount, depends on what it was built for, if you've exceeded that, I'd be dealing with it asap.

 

[IaGary]

None has really melted here since the middle of January.

But it is settled and piled in drifts.

We have had about 24 inches since the last thaw.

It's 12" inches deep everywhere and a lot of 4 foot drifts in the middle of fields.

And some 10 foot drifts in the road ways.

Some one lane roads around here cause there is nowhere to go with the snow without blowers. The county is doing some blowing also to get it oopened up.

Gary

 

[noncompos]

If it starts to rain, depending on how hard it rains and how warm the rain is, remember that your snow load will soak up water (added weight!!) before it melts enough to actually lose weight or slide off easily. With sympathy, Bud

 

[Bruce Hopf]

How steep of a roof is it. How high to the eaves. If the roof doesn't have too steep of a pitch, or not too high off the ground, I'd try to get a small snow thrower on the roof, or a power shovel to remove the snow. Hey there is a new snowshovel on the market called the wouvel. It lookes like a preety neat gadget, anyway all are better than shoveling.

 

[Anonymous-0]

My dad had a morton built in 1976 and a flat roof steel butler that got covered in 1997. When the temp got warm the morton started melting the water from the peak could not run off fast enough. It put all the weight half way down on the roof it broke every upright in the rafters but it did not fall down we had 3 knipcos going about 6 hours to clean it off .The flat roof did not fall down but we had to replace all roof tin because it bowed enough water would stand on it when it rained . His roof was screwed on and the ice would not slide over the screws.

 

[Bruce Hopf]

Sorry mis spelled it wovel. Found it on Home Depo's web site. I seen a demonstration on another website, looks real niffty.

 

[TripleRange]

Gary,
I read all the posts and like Dave in TX's idea the best. You didn't say what spacing between rafters or the size of purlins or the roof pitch....Mortons are usually built right. Most pre-engineered buildings go by the local building codes...but the newer codes are by far more conservative than the older ones. We do learn, I guess.

 

[deadeye012]

Gary:
I am up in N.E. Iowa and a roll (like you get at the farm store) of plastic will even hold in the heat enough to get heat to the ceiling. I have a couple of Knipco's that I use on a 30 X 40 shed....JB

 

[Anonymous-0]

Most sellers of pole buildings get a low price by being chinsy on the snow load capacity. Make Cleary match the snow load rating of Morton and their price will match Morton's. And most will try to say, they don't loose enough that they will rather replace the occasional one rather than make it sturdy. Trouble is that replacment doesn't cover what got squashed inside.

Gerald J.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Build a snow rake or purchase one ASAP, get some heat in there , use the plastic as a wall to keep the heat rising (even if you have to partition it off a little at a time to remove weight from different roof sections) and get some weight off before the rains because alot of weight will accumulate "in" the snow if you (the roof) get rained on. One other thought_ get your heating source elevated about two thirds of the way up to the roof ridge(peak) if you can and this will speed things up considerably and waste less fuel given the turbulance caused by the heat flow that isn't being wasted moreover at ground level. good luck

 

[Anonymous-0]

Build a snow rake or purchase one ASAP, get some heat in there , use the plastic as a wall to keep the heat rising (even if you have to partition it off a little at a time to remove weight from different roof sections) and get some weight off before the rains because alot of weight will accumulate "in" the snow if you (the roof) get rained on. One other thought_ get your heating source elevated about two thirds of the way up to the roof ridge(peak) if you can and this will speed things up considerably and waste less fuel given the turbulance caused by the heat flow that isn't being wasted moreover at ground level. good luck

 

[glennster]

gary, have you got a torpedoe heater? if so, either put it in the loader bucket or on the roof of the tractor cab and get it up near the inside of the roof nearest the eaves, warm that up so the edge of the roof clears off first, that way you wont build a heavy load from the peak melting first. if you are REALLY close to maximum weight on the roof from snow and ice, spread driveway salt on the last 10 ft off the roof nearest the eaves to get that down first. spread it from the loader not from on the roof. that way if she lets go, you wont go over the roof with the snow.

 

[JDemaris]

We had two new Mortons come crashing down here last year - from snow load. They were built to minimum code.

From what I've seen, most of the comanies spec out jobs the same so the cost estimates are close.

Any of these companies will build a better building as long as you are willing to pay for it.

If someone wants a building - the last word is up to them - the payer - not the builder.

 

[Don L C]

Hang a cheep plactic tarp. over the open door......