Preventing Snow and Ice Buildup on Metal Roofs in Maine

If you’ve ever visited Maine, you already know just how frigid and snowy the region can be during the winter months. The area sees 50 to 70 inches of snowfall annually, along with subzero temperatures. Heavy snow accumulation, ice, and insanely low temperatures are regular events here, causing immense amounts of damage to homes, cars, and businesses. Between heavy snowfall causing structural damage to buildings and ice contributing to massive power outages, many Maine residents are turning to metal buildings to keep their vehicles and valuables safe from the weather. These structures are incredibly durable and are engineered to withstand the heavy Maine snowfalls each year. This ensures that your cars, equipment, and essential items are protected against snow and ice buildup. However, even the best roofing systems have their limits for snow loads. So, let’s take a look at how to prevent or minimize snow and ice buildup on the metal roof of your home or steel building. How Much Snow and Ice is Too Much? For anyone without a doctorate in engineering, it can be difficult to determine how much snow accumulation is too much for your metal roof to bear. Snow can become incredibly heavy, so it’s always a good practice to keep your roof free of heavy snowfall. If your structure is a prefab metal building, like those provided by Boss Buildings, you’ll easily be able to find out the maximum snow load by contacting your sales expert. Most modern roofing systems are designed to support roughly twenty pounds per square foot. But knowing exactly how much strain snow is placing on your roof can be hard to determine. If you’re having to measure it by eye, keep this in mind: Fresh snow carries a weight of about 5 pounds per square foot for every 10 inches. Most modern structures can withstand up to four feet of fresh, unpacked snow before structural integrity comes into question. Packed snow is much more compact yet still retains much of its weight. For every 3-5 inches of packed snow, your roof receives 5 pounds per square foot of stress. By this system, two feet of densely packed snow can cause issues with your roofing system. Using these guidelines, you can roughly estimate how much stress your structure is under. When Should You Remove Accumulated Snow Even with the guidelines above aiding you, it can be challenging to determine how much stress your roof may be under during a snow or ice storm. You can never truly know how much a roof can withstand until it can’t. Therefore, it’s always a best practice to keep your rooftops clear of snow accumulation if possible. Below, we’ve put together a few tips for how to safely remove snow and ice buildup on your roof. Remove hanging icicles This conical buildup of ice may look pleasing to the eye, but they’re quite dangerous to both you and your structure. Not only can these icicles break and fall on anyone unfortunate enough to be beneath them, but they also place