The primary snowfall this yr did not quantity to a lot. Three inches at most, adopted by freezing rain that gave it weight and a crust. However because it was winding down, my ideas weren’t about shoveling the entrance steps or placing sand down to assist with traction. And I knew the plow man could be coming by to deal with our driveway.
As an alternative, my ideas turned upward. In winter, I am obsessive about my roof — and with a easy software that is develop into my indispensable ally in sustaining my home correctly throughout cold weather.
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My roof rake.
It isn’t a lot to take a look at. Sixteen toes of aluminum pole with a perpendicular 22-inch-wide blue plastic blade at one finish. Nevertheless it makes all of the distinction in protecting melting snow from turning into streams of water that leak into the home. That’ll injury partitions, ceilings, lighting fixtures and the rest that is beneath the drip, drip, drip. Over time, it may develop right into a mould drawback.
Inside your own home, leak detectors are useful devices for all types of water mishaps, however prevention is all the time the higher coverage.
Should you reside in an space that repeatedly receives snow, take note of the buildup in your roof. In a single sense, snow on the roof is a optimistic factor. It signifies that you’ve ample insulation in your ceiling and attic to forestall heat air from escaping, in addition to correct air flow to assist maintain the roof cool.
However that snow will soften, producing runoff that heads downhill to your eaves and gutters. That is the place the issue begins.
The winter of 2015 was a brutal one in Massachusetts, with roughly 90 inches of snow falling in lower than a month. That yr, the ice dams gained.
As that water reaches the sting of your roof, it turns into extra uncovered to chilly temperatures, and it will refreeze, creating ice dams. These frozen blockages will construct up and stop the following waves of meltwater from falling harmlessly off your roof. The place does that water go? It backs up beneath your shingles and thru the roof decking, following a brand new gravitational pathway into your residing areas.
I’ve witnessed this leaking. I’ve repaired the injury. I’ve vowed by no means to let it occur once more.
Which is why I am outdoors proper after each snowfall, raking away.
There are not any actually compelling technological fixes for this drawback. There is no such thing as a Roomba in your rooftop. Entire-roof heating methods do exist, however they price hundreds of {dollars} and are a big building challenge. Right here in New England, it’s normal to see properties with a heating cable snaked alongside the decrease portion of the roof, simply above the eaves. However for my home, even that extra modest possibility would, as a tough estimate, run someplace between $1,000 and $2,000 to put in.
With any heating system, there’ll even be ongoing electrical energy prices and a doubtlessly messy cycle of melting and refreezing.
A roof rake will set you again lower than $200. It is low tech, and it really works.
Tips on how to deal with a roof rake
I have been utilizing my roof rake after each snowstorm, even the minor ones, for a lot of a snowy winter right here in central Massachusetts.
I needed to be taught the onerous approach. Earlier than I purchased my roof rake, I went after the ice dams themselves, after they’d already develop into approach too thick, and water was dripping, generally fiercely, into the home. I used to be outdoors on a ladder, within the chilly, whaling away with a hatchet. Not the way in which to go.
That is me, clearing the roof after a refreshingly mild snowfall.
A roof rake is a lot faster and easier — and once more, it is that all-important ounce of prevention. You stand on the bottom, attain up with the rake and gently pull an enormous shovel’s value of snow off the roof at a time. Take a step or two and repeat the method. I get round my home in about 20 minutes.
OK, it’s a delicate arm and shoulder exercise. The rake does not weigh a lot, however it’s top-heavy, and also you’re reaching up and away out of your physique. When the snow is thick, moist, crusty or all the above, you may need to make an additional effort with every stroke.
However in the event you’re acquainted with the usually backbreaking work of shoveling snow, you may welcome the change of tempo.
How a lot snow do you must pull down? The guides I’ve learn suggest clearing as a lot as 6 toes up from the eaves, and after I began raking my roof, I used to go simply so far as I may attain. If I wasn’t hitting that 6-foot mark, I used to be getting shut.
Over time, although, I’ve discovered that simply 1 to 2 toes is mostly ample. That is the crucial space, proper previous the eaves, the place freezing and ice dam buildup happen.
The guides additionally advise going simple when scraping right down to the roof shingles, so you do not put on them out prematurely. I’ve to admit I am not that fastidious — I am often dragging proper alongside the shingles themselves, moderately than attempting to go away a skinny coating of snow — and it hasn’t appeared to be an issue.
And for heaven’s sake, be aware of the place the ability traces come into your own home. You are waving a steel pole within the air, in any case.
Bear in mind to put on heavy gloves once you’re roof-raking. The aluminum pole will get actually chilly to the contact.
What’s the best roof rake to purchase?
Like leaf rakes, roof rakes do not have a variety of selection. A typical roof rake comes with 4 4-foot lengths of aluminum pole that you simply connect finish to finish to get the complete size, plus the brief blade attachment. (Mine has three 5-foot lengths, together with the blade phase.) The width of the blade ranges between roughly 17 and 24 inches.
The 16-foot size I’ve is sufficient for my home, a raised ranch, even on the facet the place the bottom slopes away, and I can get simply the primary foot or so of snow from the roof. In case you have a taller home otherwise you actually need to clear the way in which up on the roof, you could possibly all the time get further sections. The blade part of my pole angles towards the roof, which is useful.
Some rakes have little wheels on the underside of the blade to keep away from scraping immediately on the shingles. Looks like a wise design.
Different roof rakes aren’t really rakes in any respect. As an alternative of a blade, the enterprise finish is open, with prongs holding one finish of a plastic slide that runs parallel to the pole. As an alternative of pulling, you push into the snow, and the slide offers a slick runway so that you can fall to the bottom. I’ve by no means tried one in all these, however having spent sufficient time wielding an ordinary roof rake, I’ve my doubts. It appears greatest suited to powder.
Costs for roof rakes usually vary from $50 to $60 and might get to round $200. Years again, I purchased a really fundamental mannequin, and it is nonetheless going robust — a wonderful funding.
Gone are the times after I really went up onto my roof and tried shoveling along with raking. In equity, that was a legendary winter. In 2015, New England skilled 4 main snowstorms in lower than a month, dumping round 90 inches of snow throughout that brief span. Nobody may sustain.
However in need of one other “Snowmaggedon,” I do know my roof rake will proceed to serve me effectively. Each time a snowstorm wanes, the 2 of us will head outdoors to begin the clearing.
