How Much Is To Much Snow On My Roof

As everyone knows cold fluffy snow is very light while wet snow can be extremely heavy.

How much is to much snow on my roof. You can look for signs of an overloaded roof though. The building departments there say to use a 30 psf snow load. In snow country that number might be anywhere from 30 or 35 pounds per square foot psf to more than 70 psf. The municipal official that issues building permits can tell you what the design snow load is in your area.

Most roof designs can handle snow loads of 20 40 lbs per square foot. I wish there were a simple answer but none exists. The chart below courtesy of paul schimnowski p e gives some examples of snow loads. How much snow a roof can hold depends on the type of snow roofline and material among other considerations.

Armed with that number a builder can frame the roof appropriately. For the twin cities metro area the roof snow load equals 35 pounds per square foot or 7 x 50. The state s building code requires homes in the southern half of minnesota. The code says to see local conditions in these special zones.

Our snow load calculator helps you to make the decision when to remove the snow from your roof by comparing the weight of snow with the load carrying capacity of the roof. There is a special zone in the northeast corner of the state where they get lake effect snow. How much snow is too much for a roof to handle. So how much snow does this equal.

With snow already piled high on many roofs it s important to know how much snow is too much for your roof to support.