Benefits Of Snow Guards
During the winter months, snow is often a pleasant surprise you can enjoy while sipping your morning coffee or throughout a long, lazy weekend. But it can also cause extensive, costly, and potentially dangerous damage to your property. Snow accumulation on your roof can harm your roofing materials, your buildings structure, and foundation, and even cause personal injury.
The best form of prevention against these potentially hazardous and costly piles of snow is to purchase snow guards for your property.
Why Are Snow Guards Important For Metal Roofs
Snow guards for metal roofs serve many important functions for your roof. As snow is significantly heavier than rain and can build up quickly in Calgary and Alberta winters, excessive snow build-up can lead to significant strain on your metal roof, potentially damaging the structure of your metal roof and your building. As metal roofs can also contract in cold temperatures, the excessive load bearing during the winter months should be avoided to mitigate any risks to your roof.
Although metal roofs provide significantly more protection from ice damming and moisture leakage over traditional shingle roofs, it is still a concern during winter and can help be avoided by controlling the snow on your roof.
Lastly, snow guards primary purpose is to prevent roof avalanches and protect you and those around your building. As the snow and ice deposited on your roof melt, the water will flow underneath the layer of snow buildup downwards. If the water flow is substantial enough, it will loosen the snow and ice from the metal roof and cause large, heavy sheets of snow or ice to fall from your roof. If the snow guards are installed correctly on your metal roof, the snow and ice will catch around the snow guards while all the water is allowed to drain freely and stop large sheets from falling off the roof.
Clamp Mounted Vs Structure Attachment Vs Stick
If you own property with a metal roof in snow country, you definitely understand the importance of snow retention. Whether residential or commercial, you have already made a smart decision by choosing a roof that has the longest service life possible.
Metal roofing is indeed a slippery slope , as you must consider the risk of roof top avalanches , as well as the need for snow removal maintenance.
A quality snow retention system will help you avoid these drawbacks, allowing the snow to melt safely away, providing decades of trouble-free service of your roof.
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How Do You Keep Snow From Sliding Off A Metal Roof
Installing metal roof ice guards on metal roofs is the best way to ensure an avalanche does not occur after snow or icy conditions. This is particularly important in places where heavy snowfall occurs during winters.
One of the challenges with installing snow guards on metal roofs is that most metal roof systems allow the metal panes to float freely above the underlying roof deck off raining. This is done so that the metal panes can expand and contract at a different rate than the underlying structure beneath them. So if you attach a snow guard onto a metal roof by driving fasteners through the metal panels, they will lose their ability to float and will allow for leaks to develop.
Its important when installing metal roof snow guards to use non-penetrating adhesive metal roof snow stoppers, where polycarbonate cleats are applied to the metal panels using a peel-and-stick adhesive rather than drilling in metal fasteners. When this is done correctly, the cleats will stop snowpacks from breaking apart suddenly and falling to the ground.
How To Melt Snow Off A Metal Roof
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A metal roof is great for preventing snow build-up because the sun heats up the metal and causes the snow to slide right off. If you still have snow or ice on your metal roof, there are several different tools you can use to melt the snow like heat cables, calcium chloride, or hot water. Whichever method you choose, avoid climbing up onto the roof to melt or remove the ice yourself so you don’t get injured and call a professional if you need extra help.
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The Best Design For Your Roof
There are three basic methods available for mounting snow retention systems to roofs.
Two designs are mechanically-attached, using the process of either clamping to the seam or screwing through the roof material .
The third is chemically-attached and uses a stick-on method, which involves gluing individual snow guards to a roof.
An important note in respect to mechanically-attached systems is the distinction between clamping and drilling a snow retention system onto a roof. Drilling requires holes. And holes in a metal roof need to be properly weather-proofed to prevent leakage. At S-5!, we manufacture and market clamps and brackets to reliably mount snow guard systems to metal roof seams with clamps and setscrews that compress the seam material against the opposite wall of the clamp dimpling the material, but not penetrating it – and without creating holes. For roof profiles that do not allow this clamping technology, we also offer penetrative attachmentsbut with some special features. The sealants we use for waterproofing the holes created are designed to last the life of the roof. They are also protected from harmful UV sunlightand they utilize part designs that prevent over-compression which can also compromise their service life. AND we test and warrant their performance in accordance to ASTM E 2140.
How To Choose The Best Snow Guards For Metal Roofs
Snow Guards For Metal Roofs If youre located in a winter climate our snow & ice guards will forbid the dangerous migration of snow and ice from falling off of your sloped metal roof and injuring people or property down below.
Our premium snow guard products, designed in several styles for various metal roof types, are stocked and ready for next day shipment! All of our metal snow guards is individually bagged for maximum protection against scratches during shipment and comes with a 15 year guarantee. Levis Snow Defenders stand the test of time for commercial, agricultural and residential building needs.
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Adding beauty and function, our clear snow guards help prevent damage from sudden avalanches while remaining practically invisible. Several important features to consider when selecting snow guards for metal roofing applications are the height, width and shape of the particular system. This determines the snow guards ability to hold back layers of frozen precipitation to help eliminate unexpected slides.
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Snow Guards: Are They Necessary On A Metal Roof
Snow guards: Are they necessary on a Metal Roof?
A question that we get asked a lot, is if it is really necessary to install snow guards on a metal roof. The short answer is that it depends where you live. Lets unpack some of the information regarding snow guards.
What is the purpose:
The purpose of snow guards is to hold accumulated snow on the roof, until it can slowly melt. Lets say that you live in a area that receives 4-6 inches of snowfall regularly. The snow can build up on your roof throughout the winter until there is 12 or more accumulated. As the weather begins to warm, this accumulated snow can slide off the roof in large chucks, causing possible damage to gutters and personnel. If snow guards are installed, they prevent the snow from sliding, until it has a chance to melt.
What Damage can be Caused:
Depending on the situation, and the severity of the winter, the lack of snow guards can cause a lot of damage. Sliding snow and Ice can tear gutters off of your home, requiring new gutters to be installed. Chunks of snow can also slide off at the most inopportune times,inuring anyone that happens to be standing in its way. The last thing that you need is to have someone suing you because of being injured by sliding Snow and Ice.
What options of Snow Guards are available:
In Summary:
Be sure to give us a call if you have any question concerning your roof, and we will do our best to answer them for you.
Are Metal Roofs Good For Snow
Metal roofs are great for homes in regions with heavy snowfall. Metal roofing is extremely durable. It is able to withstand ice, hail, sleet, and snow better than most traditional materials. The fact that metal roofs allow snow to slide off can also be a plus because it reduces the load of snow on your home.
The downside is that metal roofs are more prone to large snow avalanches than any other type of roofing. When the metal heats up, a thin layer of melted snow forms on top of the metal, allowing piled snow to slide off all at once. This can result in dangerous and destructive masses of snow sliding off the roof all at once.
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Metal Roof Snow Stops For Pole Barns
As winter approaches, managing the snow load for your pole barn is a top concern for those living in the Utah, southeast Idaho and Wyoming regions. Metal roofs must be equipped with the proper tools to keep snow from sliding off and piling up on the side of your building and blocking the doors or windows. At Beehive Buildings, we offer a solution to ensure that our pole buildings metal roofs are outfitted with the necessary snow stops to keep our clients homes, barns and sheds as safe and snow-drift-free as possible.
Pros And Cons Of Various Types Of Snow Guards
If you consider enhancing the roof safety, you will want to wrap your head around the difference between numerous kinds of snow stoppers. Let us have a closer look at the most popular ones: metal and plastic snow holders.
The roofing market offers numerous solutions for the protection from heavy snows. The difference is based on the properties of the holder material. The metal ones are the most expensive devices as they are not subject to corrosion, ideally suit any type of roof. Moreover, the service life of stainless steel or copper snow guards is comparable to the service life of a metal roof, i.e. over 50 years.
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Clamping A Snow Guard To A Standing Seam Type Roof
This first method uses a seam-clamping attachment. This is a strong and secure option if the roof is a standing seam style metal roof. Clamps attach directly to the roof seam using polished, round-point setscrews that do not penetrate the metal .
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Avoids drilling holes that could leak and that might void your roof warranty.
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Clamp-to seam attachments will not fatigue due to thermal heating or cooling of the roof.
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Easily mounted even after the roof has been installed.
Choose The Right Way To Ensure Snow Melts Safely Off Your Roof
It is critical to understand the unpredictable nature of snow melt on a metal roof. But there are steps to take to thwart dangerous roof top avalanches. A quality snow retention system will help preserve your roof and allow snow drifts and snow melt to exit the roof in a more controlled manner. Learn more about installing snow retention systems with mechanical attachment via clamp mounting or structural attachment and weather proofing at S-5.com.
Dont just believe what we say because we said it! MCA technical documents are the greatest aid available for snow guard selection criteria and downloads are free. Visit MCA for more information.
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At Rocky Mountain Snow Guards We Sell Aluminum Copper And Steel Snow Retention Systems For Metal Roofs But There Are Other Types Of Snow Guards For Metal Roofs That We Dont Sell And Its Quite Possible That One Of Those Might Be The Best Solution For Your Needs
Our mission is to help building owners select the snow retention system that works best for their situation. Whether its our product or not. With so many types of metal roofs and snow guard systems available, narrowing down the best one for your home or project can be confusing.
Ive personally spent many hours searching and condensing information from our competitors sites and noticed that every site has one thing in common. Each manufacturer presents their snow guard or snow retention system as the best and offers up various reasons why their particular product is better than others. Obviously, every snow guard and every manufacturer cant be the best. What I realized is that an architect, homeowner or contractor researching metal roof snow guards faces a daunting task of determining which is the best snow guard for their metal roof.
All snow guard system types are designed to keep snow on your roof to protect you, your family, and your property from falling ice and snow. Metal roofs have a very smooth surface that doesn’t absorb water. Thats why metal roofs are good roofs but also why snow and ice slide off.
In a nutshell, there are 3 different snow guard types for metal roofs that are currently in use. This article briefly discusses each type. Additional articles follow this one that go in-depth into each type including manufacturing materials, methods of attachment and most importantly, the advantages and disadvantages of each type.
Protect Building And Roof Elements
Protect lower roofs from tons of snow crushing it below. Rooftop avalanches can shatter windows, rip off gutters, tear away siding, demolish vents, flatten seams, buckle panels, infiltrate the roof membrane and allow water to infiltrate the panels, exposing them to corrosion and degradation.
Lower roof damage from rooftop avalanche |
Roof damage from rooftop avalanche |
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Installing Adhesive Snow Guards
Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for the number and spacing of snow guards. The recommended pattern and number of snow guard cleats are based on several factors, including the slope of the roof, the rafter length, and the anticipated snowfall in your region.
The following is a recommended method for installing adhesive snow guards onto the surface of a metal roof system:
Expect This With Structure Attachment
With snow guards that attach directly to the structure, holes will need to be drilled to anchor snow guard brackets, to ensure secure placement and the long-term service life of the roof. If this is not done correctly, you run the risk of developing leaks. To accomplish this, prior to installation with other products, you will need to perform additional steps to waterproof these roof penetrations, and you will have to know something about sealant chemistry, part design, sealant selection/sourcing, etc.). With S-5! components, we take the guesswork out and provide an appropriate system with sealants factory-applied. You simply remove the protective release paper and install.
Again, the strength of the structural attachment mounting method is also important and should also be proven and matched to the in-service loads to which the snow guard will be exposed. At S-5!, we take the magic out of all that with web-based tools, enabling you to do all this quickly and easily. And these tested, proven and scientific holding strengths, are engineered to the specifics of your projectnot using someones by guess or by golly assessments.
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Boasting Versatility Durability And Sustainability A Standing Seam Metal Roof Lasts Well Over 40 Years
But there is often a misconception that snow retention is only necessary in places with extreme amounts of snow. You dont need that much snow to create a rooftop hazard.
Rooftop avalanche in Texas
Also, metal isnt the only roof style susceptible to rooftop avalanche. A rooftop avalanche can occur on any type of roof. The more slippery the roof surfacethe more likely the avalanche. That is why you should install an engineered snow retention system to help mitigate this occurrence.
How Do Roof Avalanches Start
Roof snow melts into water which then runs underneath the build up of snow on the surface of the roofing product. If there is enough water flow, the snow and ice release from the friction of the roofing product and an avalanche begins.
If snow guards are placed throughout the roof area, protruding up three or more inches from the roofing product, then when the snow melts into ice, the field of snow and ice will freeze in place around the projections and prevent the ice from sliding off in a sheet. If the snow guards arent spaced close enough and spread throughout the roof, you will get an avalanche of heavy snow and ice.
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