shoveled roof - just got back..

[TomC]

Gotta tell you - there is major amount of snow in Moultonborough. I headed up today to shovel the roof at one of my properties (at the other one the maintenance manager is calling in a crew for the whole association). Its a small 800 sqft cabin with about a 6 pitch roof. Without exaggeration, there were spots 5 FEET deep where the wind blew snow up over the ridge and deposited it on the other side. It took a 2-man crew 8 hours to clear the snow down to the shingles. They are calling for rain on Tues and Wed. I can't imagine what water will do to the weight on the roof...

If you have a house up there, it might be a good idea to take a day off and clear your roof or call a roofer - you have to get that snow off..

This was a tough job - we had to get through several levels of snow and ice layers. The maintenance manager I spoke of above was talking to another contractor who is also clearing roofs in the area. They hauled away the snow removed from a 8'x30' roof elsewhere in town and weighed it at the truck scales - it was 16,000 lbs for a load of 67 lbs/sqft. Typical roof load is spec'd at 50lbs/sqft so what is up there now is exceeding code and is probably way too much for 50 year old underbuilt cabins like many of us have.

I don't mean to be an alarmist but I was stunned by the snow pack up there - here in Northern MA I have many bare areas in my yard. The snow bank at the end of my driveway in Moultonboro was nearly 6 ft tall.

I feel good that I'm all set but worry about all the rest of the properties.

Good luck...

Here is a photo of my kids standing on the pile of snow i shoveled from the roof, with there heads above the eave which is ~10ft off bare ground..

[chaseisland]

I went up to the island Friday and spent all day shoveling the roof of a 30 'X 30' cabin. There was a **** of snow on that roof, and I haven't seen a shingle yet. However, I will sleep better now knowing that the coming rain has been negated by my hard work. The rest of you should start praying at the first sign of rain.

[Old Hubbard Rd]

I've shoveled my roof twice already in Meredith!!

[hazelnut]

I am relying on my very steep pitched roof on my Cape style house(cottage) on the island to hold up...

I have all fingers, toes, crossed. I am worried for some of my neighbors who have quite flat roofs on their camps. I am also worried about Harilla Landing. The buildings are slated to come down next year and be rebuilt. I am not sure if they can handle the stress of the weight of the snow.

[GoSnow]

We spent 4+ hours yesterday shoveling snow off the deck & the roof of my cottage on Rattlesnake. It was heavy layers of snow & ice. In some places the ice was 5 inches thick. The overall height of the snow on the deck was 2' - 4'. Unreal! I would strongly recommend shoveling before the rain arrives tomorrow.

[Weirs guy]

Me and most of the people I know in this area have just finished a weekend of roof shoveling. Up to 7' drifts have been reported! One gentlemen claims that he took 25,000 POUNDS of snow and ice off a 500 SQUARE FOOT ROOF! I'm exhausted!

[NHKathy]

All I have to say is - WOW that's a lot of snow!
I hope the crew was able to get it all done in time!
-Kathy

[SAMIAM]

Two of us did a neighbors house who hasn't been up all year.One of the valley's on the roof was drifted to over 4' of icy crust and packed snow.We went up on a ladder and when we finished we just stepped of the roof onto the snow pile.We were so beat we just left the ladder right there.buried.

[AC2717]

Does anyone know what it looks like in Laconia?
I have a 3 inch piched roof section about 8x15.

[Resident 2B]

Originally Posted by AC2717

Does anyone know what it looks like in Laconia?
I have a 3 inch piched roof section about 8x15.

It all depends on if the area under it is heated or not.

We have a shed that is about the same size and is unheated. We are near the Weirs. It had almost three feet of snow on it when I sholved it on Monday. The top 8 inches was rather light fluff and very easy to move. The next layer was about 2 inches of icy, hard-packed snow. Below that was another foot or so of rather light snow. However, the bottom layer was about 8 inches of extremely heavy hard-packed snow and ice. Most of the weight on Monday was from the bottom eight inches.

My concern was the fluff on the top would get wet from the rain, collecting all the weight of the water and overload the roof. I think our situation was about normal for roofs over unheated areas.

If the room below is heated, it depends on how much heat escapes through the roof and how muck of the December snow was melted by the escaping heat. Bottom line is there is a lot of snow on the roofs throught the area and wet snow is heavy snow.

Sorry for the bad news.

R2B

[GrandmaBig6]

My Aunt owns a home in Meredith and the house is shut down from October to Mayish. There is no heat on in the home and the water pipes are cleaned of water.

My question is should she have her roof cleaned off? The roof slopes like and A, but not that steep - maybe a flatened A. Except for the front yard, the house is mostly shaded by trees.

Would love to pass on some advice to her from people who have knowledge on this subject.

Thanks much.

[AC2717]

Originally Posted by Resident 2B

It all depends on if the area under it is heated or not.

We have a shed that is about the same size and is unheated. We are near the Weirs. It had almost three feet of snow on it when I shoveled it on Monday. The top 8 inches was rather light fluff and very easy to move. The next layer was about 2 inches of icy, hard-packed snow. Below that was another foot or so of rather light snow. However, the bottom layer was about 8 inches of extremely heavy hard-packed snow and ice. Most of the weight on Monday was from the bottom eight inches.

My concern was the fluff on the top would get wet from the rain, collecting all the weight of the water and overload the roof. I think our situation was about normal for roofs over unheated areas.

If the room below is heated, it depends on how much heat escapes through the roof and how muck of the December snow was melted by the escaping heat. Bottom line is there is a lot of snow on the roofs throught the area and wet snow is heavy snow.

Sorry for the bad news.

R2B

It is unheated camp right now closed down from November to April. Structure is about 100 years old, I just stripped the roof down and re-roofed it and replaced some sheething the worse part is one side of a A Frame comes down into this section as well so it builds up right at the valley where these two piches meet.

I just pulled my insurance policy to check on coverages, I am covered, but still need to do something, although today might be to late.

[Weirs guy]

Originally Posted by GrandmaBig6

My Aunt owns a home in Meredith and the house is shut down from October to Mayish. There is no heat on in the home and the water pipes are cleaned of water.

My question is should she have her roof cleaned off? The roof slopes like and A, but not that steep - maybe a flatened A. Except for the front yard, the house is mostly shaded by trees.

Would love to pass on some advice to her from people who have knowledge on this subject.

Thanks much.

Based on the forecast for more "stuff" this weekend, and NH weather in general, I'd say a good shoveling is cheap insurance at this point. There are several roofs in my neighborhood that are relatively flat and very, very old that have had no problems. But the brandy-newby Brookside Restaurant is in my neighborhood too!