MISSOULA – The seemingly endless snowfall has people around Western Montana shoveling their sidewalks. For some people, it’s a couple of times a day.
Another thing that might need a little snow removal is your roof for a variety of different reasons.
“You’ve got your structural integrity for one. You’ve got your ice dams that could happen, you’ve got all the ventilation that could happen,” said A and B Roofing repair technician Jeremy Kneeland. “A lot of people are saying right now it’s such a dry, light, fluffy snow you don’t have to worry about it. But really, it’s a dry sponge sitting on your roof that’s waiting for the moisture to come in and it’s going to get really heavy quick.”
So how much snow needs to fall before you start looking at taking some off the top of your home?
“I would say around a foot and a half put it on your front burner. Over two feet is when your going to want to start thinking about removing the snow, maybe even just removing the snow on eves, vents if you have any exhaust from furnaces dryers” Kneeland added.
The forecast looks like snow and freezing temps for the rest of the week, so if you are already thinking about showing your roof some attention, it’s better to do it now
There might not be any warning signs before it’s too late.
“What will you see or what red flags? Honestly I don’t know if you would ever even see any red flags. I think that you would just start to hear a ‘pop-pop’ and next thing you know what was that and you’re looking into a living room and it’s snowy,” Kneeland said.
You can give A and B Roofing a call and they can come out and give you an estimation on how much a removal would cost. Or if you are looking to clear your roof off yourself, you can get a snow rake at your local hardware store so you don’t have to get up on the roof during icy conditions.
