How Much Snow Does It Take To Collapse A Roof

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How much snow does it take to collapse a roof. Sprinkler heads are hung from the roof of most commercial buildings and as a result would be sagging if the snow load is beginning to put pressure on the roof. Typical homeowners insurance covers damage caused by severe winter storms and blizzards including roof collapses due to snow and ice. If sprinkler heads are protruding through ceiling then you may be at risk of a roof collapse. And in the case of roof collapse due to snow and ice insurers look at several variables before deciding if and how much to pay.

If you have a newly built home with two feet of snow on the roof remove the snow. My roof will handle about four feet of wet snow and eight feet of typical snow. How can i prevent a roof collapse. I can t tell you how much it would take to do so that would depend on the type of roof that you have and the conditions of the supports of the roof.

Figure how much weight your roof can support. Even here however when we get an unusually large amount of snow in a short time we do see roof collapses as we did during the snowmageddon winter of 2009 10. There are many possible explanations for damaged rafters for example termites. Your snow is perhaps going to be half that because you mention another foot which indicates you live in an area where the snow stays awhile and thus is colder so it won t be very wet.

So if the recent blizzard left 30 inches on your roof the snow load of 37 pounds per square foot 30 multiplied by 1 25 could have caved in a residential roof built to withstand only 30 pounds. But not all coverage is the same. Whether a roof can sustain a load without damage or collapse depends mainly on the depth and density of the snow as well as the depth and spacing of the rafters and trusses. An overload of snow can certainly cause a roof to collapse.

A sign of impending roof collapse. How much snow a roof can hold depends on the type of snow. Very wet snow is about equal to 2 5 inches of rain per foot of snow. Roof raking not only is an excellent way to prevent ice dams but also is a fantastic way to ensure your roof is never put under so much strain that you risk a collapse.