How are all our members snowed in in the US Coping ?

[MitchM]

The main problem for the Buffalo area is that if there's a ton of snow on your roof, and then it rains and soaks the snow, that the weight on the roof is going to increase exponentially. When the cold snap hits again in the middle of next week, the remaining snow on the roofs is going to flash freeze into ice.

There are going to be problems with ice dams in soffits, and ice creep under shingles. With soffit ice dams, snowmelt is able to get between the brick façade and the interior walls, leading to drywall damage and greatly increasing the potential for mould formation.

The majority of these problems won't be covered under homeowners insurance as the insurance companies will deem them to be "acts of God".

The smart ones will already be up on their roofs removing as much snow as possible in the next couple of days.

Those that live in areas such as this should at the very least have their eaves trough and downspouts equipped with heating cables. They're cheap, easy to install, unobtrusive and require only to be plugged in when they're needed.

Our building codes here are for a 20 foot snow load, which includes snow plus rain weight.

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[Catfishnut]

Mitch,

You will have to explain the "20 foot" snow load for me, please. Surely they don't mean that your roofs have to handle the weight of twenty foot vertical depth of snow?
Or do you mean that by including the "rain weight" that the weight on the roof would be equivalent to 20 feet of totally dry snow? You have got my curiousity on that one.

We are warmer here in Nebraska, so twenty feet of snow isn't dry snow, it is wet and very, extremely heavy.

Gordy

 

[MitchM]

Yes, 20 feet of vertical snow.
I would have to dig around to find out what that means technically, but snow plus rain plus the use of snow roof guards could mean a serious amount of added weight on your roof. I used to work as a framing carpenter and I remember that our roof trusses were designed for a 20 foot snow load.

edit - snow drifts are also a consideration when designing roof structure.

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[MitchM]

What I found by quickly searching for details is that roof loads could be estimated to be 3 times that of ground load when you include drifting that can occur on certain roof designs.
Considering that we could have a few feet of snow on the ground, plus the added weight of rain soaking into the snow, it doesn't take much to add up to the 20 foot figure.


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[Catfishnut]

WOW! Seriously, that is a LOT of snow. My Dad told me a story from back in the 30's when he was a teen that they had to crawl out of the second story window and shovel down to the front door so that they could open it and shovel a path to the outhouse. The power line poles were just short sticks rising out of the snow drifts.

But, I cannot imagine 20 feet of snow from one storm today. Hope that never ever happens here! We wouldn't be able to cope with that much, especially WET.

Gordy

 

[MitchM]

I do remember some days when we used to toboggan off the garage roof.
Fun, but rare.

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[MitchM]

When you think about it, the cost difference isn't really all that much when designing a roof truss. 2X6, 2X8, 2X10 lumber.
The home we are living in now, is built with 2X12 rafters, basically, over an 18 foot span to the ridge.
Better safe than sorry.

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[morewater]

Buffalo is a pretty old area. There have already been multiple roof collapses. Footage that I've seen has shown homes that even if they don't actually collapse, are uninhabitable and will need to be demolished.

Building codes of the 30's and 40's aren't what they are today. Hence the insurance rates on older versus newer homes.

 

[MitchM]

Mobile homes would be the worse hit.

 

[morewater]

I'm happier than a twister in a trailer park......Yeehaw!

In flood zones, the building code should dictate that they float and that they have a minimum 15hp outboard.

 

[MitchM]

There's an idea.

 

[j.w]

@Dave 54 all the routes here are divided up so no postal worker is overworked by the large numbers. One of my cats names is Spooky and the other one is Boo. They love the snow. Oh and that snow pic was from a few years ago not today. Today we have warmer temps and not even a raindrop.

 

[Dave 54]

@Dave 54 all the routes here are divided up so no postal worker is overworked by the large numbers. One of my cats names is Spooky and the other one is Boo. They love the snow. Oh and that snow pic was from a few years ago not today. Today we have warmer temps and not even a raindrop.

Strange that we had Spooky first he was knocked down and killed on the expressway down from us Spooky II was knocked down and klled in front of us and get this the couple in the car didnt even stop
We also have a good friend called Boo or as his friend affectionatally call him Boo Boo cause hes a nice cuddly sort of a person he calls Val Bubbles
Sort of a small world eh j.w. ?


Dave

 

[j.w]

@Dave 54 Yes small world for sure, next thing ya know I will find out your are related to me,lol! I am searching for who my birth father was and his family. I am 37% Europe West, 37% Great Britain, 21% Ireland for a total of 97% Europe. The rest is tiny % of hither and yon.

 

[Dave 54]

Are you adopted j.w. if you are then this is sort of getting freaky because I was
However my background is Romany Gyspy up to my Birth Grandfather who was a horse trader who's ancesters came over with the Normans in 1066 .
He was Kicked to death by a horse as was his father after that my Birth Grandmother took the family away from the traveling life to live in a house
I was the second son and was adopted out aged 6 weeks, sadly however it didnt work out for me with my Mum and Dad divorcing then a drnkn Sepdad handy with his fists when drunk who took it out mainly on me but also my Mum .
I did however trace my Birth family but I will say this too you "be careful wht you wish for" I found I had an alcoholic Birth Mother who didnt want to know me and it was my Brother that actually wrote back and came down to visit , I found I had a Nephew and two Nieces one who sadlt has now died of cancer the other has gone on to give birth to our Great Niece and Nephew

Dave