Oldschool, hopefully the snow would just slide off - but look-out below!
There are insured companies who remove roof snow that you can hire.

All you can do is shovel often. When we get dumped on, if you shovel several times during a heavy snowfall it will make the work easier and less dangerous. If you wait until its all over and have a huge amount to shovel...and its already starting to crystalize...its really a pain.

For roofs, if they dont have sufficient slope for the snow to naturally slide off under its own weight, then usually standing on a ladder, and pulling back the first few feet along the edges of the roof will start the "slide" of snow off the roof. Only other option...get up there and physically remove it. But With the first two approaches, I've never actually had to get up on the roof to remove the snow. Its especially dangerous in the winter with slippery conditions....

I'd be open to other ideas. But thats all I do so far.

Reminds me of the big dump of snow in T Bay back in the 90's....the city was in a state of emergency for 3 days....you could carve out a beer cooler when you opened your window. 🙂

If you run across a copy of White Death, check it out. Tells about the Blizzard of 77 which hit the Buffalo/Niagara area. It may have been authors slant but there seemed to be more looting and crime on the American side of the fence during the emergency.

These seem to work well if you can get up high enough to pull snow down. We use similar one at work to clean truck roof. I have also seen a snowblower used, but not by me 😆

http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/0596961P/yardworks-yardworks-roof-rake-reviews/reviews.htm

there is a special pulling shovel to pull snow off the roof

Thanks everyone.

I use a roof rake now on my front porch. I was just hoping that there was some way for the house roof. In my last house, only 1 1/2 stories, we had to shovel it a few times due to the roof slope.

Scrounger - I lived in St Catharines during the Blizzard of 77. Very odd watching emergency personnel going down a main road on snowmobiles.

I find this kinda funny that most of you have never had to shovel off the roof. I live in the snow belt and all of us do so every year and last year I had to do so 3 times total. If you don't the roof will collapse and you'll need a new place to live. Unless you have an A-frame house, all roofs need shoveling up here. Even when folks get metal roofs over an old roof, they place a rib along the edge to prevent sheets of snow from sliding off. This is due to you'd then loose your rain gutters and also because a sheet of heavy snow can crush you. My shop has a metal roof, no gutters and the sheets always slide off in the spring. Very dangerous and insurance won't cover anything that gets crushed as I didn't place the ribs on as required.

The snow rakes to pull snow off work for only about the last 10 feet unless you have a ladder and are quite slow a process. Getting up on the roof and shoveling often damages the roof and thus we often reshingle sooner than others elsewhere. We usually have 3 foot on the ground throughout winter n=but that is often packed as snow melts and more falls. We shovel when the roof looks heavy with snow, usually at 24"-36". With drifting it fills up faster than other areas with the windward side with less and the protected side always full with drifts.

The included pic shows my deck in about December last year. Much of the snow is from having just shoveled the roof and then shoveling the deck. The roof scoop is also shown here. You chisel with it from the sides and use gravity to help you push it downwards. You must be careful to jerk it at the end so the snow leaves the scoop otherwise the weight inside will take the scoop with it off the roof. You too can easily follow the load off so you sometimes fall towards the unshoveled pile to stop sliding off near the edge. Since I have a walkout basement, the backside of my house is a 20 ft drop when shoveling.

You might also note that we don't own cars but only 4x4's. Cars are a secondary option as they don't have the ground clearance for our winter conditions though some of the higher crossover all wheel drive buggies are now becoming more common here. Most folks have a snowmachine in the box until spring so if you break down or get stuck, you have a backup to get help. Both my trucks have straight 5 cylinder engines as gas here is presently $1.46 litre.

If you run across a copy of White Death, check it out. Tells about the Blizzard of 77 which hit the Buffalo/Niagara area. It may have been authors slant but there seemed to be more looting and crime on the American side of the fence during the emergency.

These seem to work well if you can get up high enough to pull snow down. We use similar one at work to clean truck roof. I have also seen a snowblower used, but not by me 😆

http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/0596961P/yardworks-yardworks-roof-rake-reviews/reviews.htm

They arnt called looters this time..they are heroes... 🙄

http://gawker.com/heroes-raid-doritos-truck-to-survive-buffalos-devastati-1660767670

Things are looking pretty good there Knuckle !!! When do we all move in , looks nice and secluded there 😈
Love your vehicles !!!! 😀

I find this kinda funny that most of you have never had to shovel off the roof. I live in the snow belt and all of us do so every year and last year I had to do so 3 times total. If you don't the roof will collapse and you'll need a new place to live. Unless you have an A-frame house, all roofs need shoveling up here. Even when folks get metal roofs over an old roof, they place a rib along the edge to prevent sheets of snow from sliding off. This is due to you'd then loose your rain gutters and also because a sheet of heavy snow can crush you. My shop has a metal roof, no gutters and the sheets always slide off in the spring. Very dangerous and insurance won't cover anything that gets crushed as I didn't place the ribs on as required.

The snow rakes to pull snow off work for only about the last 10 feet unless you have a ladder and are quite slow a process. Getting up on the roof and shoveling often damages the roof and thus we often reshingle sooner than others elsewhere. We usually have 3 foot on the ground throughout winter n=but that is often packed as snow melts and more falls. We shovel when the roof looks heavy with snow, usually at 24"-36". With drifting it fills up faster than other areas with the windward side with less and the protected side always full with drifts.

The included pic shows my deck in about December last year. Much of the snow is from having just shoveled the roof and then shoveling the deck. The roof scoop is also shown here. You chisel with it from the sides and use gravity to help you push it downwards. You must be careful to jerk it at the end so the snow leaves the scoop otherwise the weight inside will take the scoop with it off the roof. You too can easily follow the load off so you sometimes fall towards the unshoveled pile to stop sliding off near the edge. Since I have a walkout basement, the backside of my house is a 20 ft drop when shoveling.

You might also note that we don't own cars but only 4x4's. Cars are a secondary option as they don't have the ground clearance for our winter conditions though some of the higher crossover all wheel drive buggies are now becoming more common here. Most folks have a snowmachine in the box until spring so if you break down or get stuck, you have a backup to get help. Both my trucks have straight 5 cylinder engines as gas here is presently $1.46 litre.

I'm in the same boat here...3 times last year and 3 50lb bags of calcium chloride to melt the ice dams.
Given that we are supposed to have a harder winter this year, I expect there will be more than that to do.
I also have a roof rake, but I find that given the angle, I can't even get 10' off the edge...unless like you mentioned, I go up on a ladder. At which point I might as well take the shovel or snow scoop.

Things are looking pretty good there Knuckle !!! When do we all move in , looks nice and secluded there 😈
Love your vehicles !!!! 😀

That's not what i expected from a southerner 😆 . I figured all the snow would scare you off. The problem is that you can't see all the trees here because of all the trees in the way.... 🙄 But land is cheap and plenty available. A friend just bought 132 acres with a brand new 900 SqFt house for $132,000 and a 1KW solar array with batteries included.... lucky bugger!

another stupid question - how long of a ladder would I need to reach 3 stories?

another stupid question - how long of a ladder would I need to reach 3 stories?

I don't envy you that task. The rake would suck big time unless you were on a scaffold. The fall would not be something your walking away from no matter how much of a snowbank you fell into. I'm betting a rope across the eve and a safety harness would be the best bet and this job given to someone younger than yourself. Time to pull out the wallet maybe...

I agree with that, knuckle.Way too risky, and that from a guy who has taken many (mostly calculated) risks. I don't have to go on the roof anymore.
This is not the best time to implement for you, O School, but i have dealt with inadequate roof structure in the attic years ago by installing supportive 2x4's from the supporting walls locations, on a 2x6 plate, on the floor of the attic....up to the roof rafters....first attaching a 2x6 plate onto the bottom side of the rafters to help equalize the load, and then fasten the supports at both ends into the top and bottom plates. This is effectively close to building trusses .Of course it helps to have 2-3 helpers as you shift crawling-planks around to avoid going thru the ceiling , while someone else cuts the lengths/angles as you shout them out, and passes them to you.
Rent a paslode framing nailer and shoot them in place. All done 1 day.(or screw them in with a battery driver.)
This should be done when there is no load on the roof.

Thank you

Villager - I have to admit building a home or changing a home to add snow load to a structure never occurred to me.