I'm not sure what the builder had in mind here....with the warm temps last weekend, this was not fun. Nor is it fun each and every time it snows and then slides.
bad roof design
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Woody5506
Minister of Fire
This reminds me of my Uncle's rental property metal roof he painted a couple years ago with an industrial product we use at our shop, PSX700 by PPG. The stuff dries so slick it feels like it's got a nice wax job on it. The snow doesn't like to stick much.
When standing seam really got popular in VT there were several serious injuries and I think a couple of deaths from snow slides off of standing seam roofs. You will see most new standing roofs now have snow breaks as shown above. Some just use snow clips that are less obtrusive but not as effective if the conditions are wrong. If you want to see serious snow brakes, Lucy Hardware along RT 302 in Intervale NH has some serious ones that were added on after the place was built as I expect they had a few near misses. For a brief period one of my employers owned a large aircraft hanger in Milan NH, when that roof let go the snow would slide down and fall off a 2 story roof and hit an adjacent building. That building had been hit many time before and in general the entire wall and sometimes roof needed to be replaced.
Note some roofers specifically exclude any responsibility for leaks after installing snow breaks on an existing roof. Unless there is 100% high temperature roof underlayment under the standing seam its a crap shot if it will leak after the brakes are installed.
Note some roofers specifically exclude any responsibility for leaks after installing snow breaks on an existing roof. Unless there is 100% high temperature roof underlayment under the standing seam its a crap shot if it will leak after the brakes are installed.
On my house they were crimped onto the seams. Been there 25 years now no problem with leaks from them. Kevin
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
But how much snow do you get?
In Maine it is very common to see no parking signs by the drip lines on metal roofs.
I like that snow guard idea, I'll have to look into that a bit more. I've also considered shingling that section. It's only the mudroom/entryway underneath it. It was built in '87, but I don't think the PO used the bulkhead very much, if at all. My boiler is down there.
MAD MARK
Feeling the Heat
I would say the slope for snow was intentional on the thought the doors weren't going to be used much if at all.
The concept for high snow load roofs is generally steep pitch so that the snow slides off instead of staying in place. Great concept except for when snow does build up and lets loose. It doesn't just happen with standing seam metal roofs, slate roofs are well known for the same issue. Its far less of an issue with standard shingles. The guards shown in the post in an earlier post are the way to go but not cheap.
Actually the choice is snow slides off or the roof is built to meet the actual snow load in the area. In my area of NH there are potentially heavy snow conditions so the various codes list this as "black zone" which means each community sets the ground snow load generally based on a snow load study developed by a group of structural engineers in the state. While the rest of the state is 40 psf, my town is approximately 95 psf with the town next to me at 115 PSF which is close to the highest in the state except for some unorganized townships that don't have much if any residential housing. 115 PSF is a whole lot of snow piled on a roof!. Its rare but I have seen years where it possible to walk right from the top of the snow piles to the roof. One year my friend in that town had enterprising kids who figured it out and built a sled run from the peak of the garage roof down over the edge and then down an adjacent slope.
The reality for most roof failures is its the details that fail. Pretty rare for the actual structural components to break. Builders take a shortcut one day and the owner finds out about it years later when the conditions are right. I have seen it over the years where someone toe nailed the rafters in place instead of installing strong ties. Or folks cutting out stringers as they are in the way of a sunroof. Or particularly deadly are wide span truss roofs where the stringers are in tension and someone cuts them. Even though my town has a high snow load requirement, enforcement is spotty over the years as some years the town elects not to inspect residential construction to save a buck, the contractors know it and they quickly downgrade to 40 PSF. They are all LLCs and are long gone before anyone is the wiser.
The other contributor is ice damming. Architects like wide overhangs to protect the landscaping and reduce splash back from rain but they are difficult to set up so they don't dam. Ice and water shield helps from water getting back into the house but it still can lead to tons of ice forming on the overhangs. Cold roofs or proper soffits vents can make a big difference but unless the framing is done right there is frequently a warm spot at the point where the joist ties into the top plate. On many homes the soffits vents are dependent on ridge vents that are cheap to install but useless in heavy snow as they get covered over and then the soffit ventilation stops. Gable end vents still work but many folks claim they short circuit the ridge vents and skip them. They add potential issues with blowing snow entering the attic in blizzard conditions but there is an easy fix that most builder skip.
The reality for most roof failures is its the details that fail. Pretty rare for the actual structural components to break. Builders take a shortcut one day and the owner finds out about it years later when the conditions are right. I have seen it over the years where someone toe nailed the rafters in place instead of installing strong ties. Or folks cutting out stringers as they are in the way of a sunroof. Or particularly deadly are wide span truss roofs where the stringers are in tension and someone cuts them. Even though my town has a high snow load requirement, enforcement is spotty over the years as some years the town elects not to inspect residential construction to save a buck, the contractors know it and they quickly downgrade to 40 PSF. They are all LLCs and are long gone before anyone is the wiser.
The other contributor is ice damming. Architects like wide overhangs to protect the landscaping and reduce splash back from rain but they are difficult to set up so they don't dam. Ice and water shield helps from water getting back into the house but it still can lead to tons of ice forming on the overhangs. Cold roofs or proper soffits vents can make a big difference but unless the framing is done right there is frequently a warm spot at the point where the joist ties into the top plate. On many homes the soffits vents are dependent on ridge vents that are cheap to install but useless in heavy snow as they get covered over and then the soffit ventilation stops. Gable end vents still work but many folks claim they short circuit the ridge vents and skip them. They add potential issues with blowing snow entering the attic in blizzard conditions but there is an easy fix that most builder skip.
tsquini
Minister of Fire
It looks like the roof is doing what is was designed to do perfectly. The basement access door looks to be placed wrong.
wooduser
Minister of Fire
http://www.sahalie.org/images/photospublic/LodgeFire.jpg
Here's a picture of the Sahalie Ski Club Lodge near the summit of Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State's Cascade Mountains. It's quite common for snow sliding off the roof to cover the ground floor up to the level of the second, (main) floor. Fifty feet or more of snow per year I'm guessing.
The lighted windows in the picture are the floor above the ground level ---the second floor of the building, The main entrance is on the right side under that shed roof with all the snow on it! That entrance way leads down to the ground level of the lodge.
The roof is pitched so that snow is dumped off the side of the roof. It may fall a couple of stories at the beginning of the season. The design of pathways and such keeps people away from areas of such snow dumps ----never an issue that I've heard about.
Dormitory space for a hundred people or so is on the third floor under the metal roof.
When I was a kid, the main floor was heated by a wood stove that was the biggest manufactured wood heater I've ever seen --- something like four feet in diameter and eight to ten feet long. Not too much need to split wood when you could toss whole logs into the stove! A railing around the stove prevented people from getting burned and provided convenient places to hang wet skiing gear for rapid drying from the radiant heat from the stove.
The original lodge was built in 1932 and burned in an electrical fire in 1943. The lodge in the picture was built 1946-1948 ----so seventy years old.
Here's the snowfall history of the area going back seventy years --- looks like 30-50 feet total snowfall is typical. Alway hope for LOTs of snow for skiing!
https://www.wsdot.com/winter/files/HistoricalSnowfallData2017-18Season.pdf?v=Mon Sep 24 2018 17:00:00 GMT-0700 (PDT)
The all time greatest snowfall for a month was 265 inches --- 22 feet!
Here's a picture of the Sahalie Ski Club Lodge near the summit of Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State's Cascade Mountains. It's quite common for snow sliding off the roof to cover the ground floor up to the level of the second, (main) floor. Fifty feet or more of snow per year I'm guessing.
The lighted windows in the picture are the floor above the ground level ---the second floor of the building, The main entrance is on the right side under that shed roof with all the snow on it! That entrance way leads down to the ground level of the lodge.
The roof is pitched so that snow is dumped off the side of the roof. It may fall a couple of stories at the beginning of the season. The design of pathways and such keeps people away from areas of such snow dumps ----never an issue that I've heard about.
Dormitory space for a hundred people or so is on the third floor under the metal roof.
When I was a kid, the main floor was heated by a wood stove that was the biggest manufactured wood heater I've ever seen --- something like four feet in diameter and eight to ten feet long. Not too much need to split wood when you could toss whole logs into the stove! A railing around the stove prevented people from getting burned and provided convenient places to hang wet skiing gear for rapid drying from the radiant heat from the stove.
The original lodge was built in 1932 and burned in an electrical fire in 1943. The lodge in the picture was built 1946-1948 ----so seventy years old.
Here's the snowfall history of the area going back seventy years --- looks like 30-50 feet total snowfall is typical. Alway hope for LOTs of snow for skiing!
https://www.wsdot.com/winter/files/HistoricalSnowfallData2017-18Season.pdf?v=Mon Sep 24 2018 17:00:00 GMT-0700 (PDT)
The all time greatest snowfall for a month was 265 inches --- 22 feet!
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