Too much snow on your roof? get a roof rake

If you live in an area where a lot of snow falls, you probably give a lot of thought to getting rid of the snow that accumulates on your sidewalks and in your driveway. But that’s a relatively easy task: get out the old shovel or snow blower and go for it.

But a task as simple as shoveling the sidewalk isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Snow is very heavy, and if you shovel it too enthusiastically, you can get back pain or blisters on your hands. And at least a handful of people a year lose a finger to a snow plow because they reach in to clear a jam, instead of using the handle of a long-handled broom.

The sidewalks are flat, there is no way around shoveling them after a heavy snowfall. But what about your roof? Most houses in areas where it snows a lot have sloped roofs so the snow just slides off. However, there are times when snow accumulates on your roof, and because snow is so heavy, it simply needs to be removed before it causes serious damage to that roof. Even if you know your roof was built to take all that weight, there’s another reason why you should remove it. Melting snow can cause ice dams in gutters…so as more snow melts, the water has nowhere to go except onto roofs.

don’t climb on your roof

Even if you can get out on your roof during the middle of winter, you’d be better off not. Climbing on a dry roof is hard enough: trying to climb up and down a sloped roof covered in snow, which could be obscuring the ice below, is the height of insanity…and falling.

The solution is a roof rake, which is operated from the ground.

Security First

Whatever roof rake you use, don’t use it near power lines. Let me repeat that: don’t use it near power lines. Even if you are a dozen feet away from a power line, if you lose control of the rake for whatever reason, its length is such that it could easily tip over that dozen feet, hit the power line and give the operator quite a shock. unpleasant, to say the least.

Several models

There are quite a few snow rakes on the market. The Minnesnowta Roof Razor is a design that is built and sold outside the state of Minnesota, and what Minnesotans don’t know about how to protect their homes from snow isn’t worth knowing.

The RoofRake allows the operator to reach over 26 feet, which should be more than enough to remove most of the snow from the roof.

Like the other designs, the Philips Snow Cutter cuts through ice and snow, but protects roof shingles by not allowing the rake to touch the roof. Philips claims that its snowplow can clear a roof in half the time it takes a roof rake.

So check the web, check your local stores, and then get yourself the right tool to make sure your roof and home stay safe during the next winter storm.