metal roof, snow concerns-update new roof design

[Cebarmlds]

Hello! hopefully I'll hear from you people in snowy climates

I will be starting a new coop soon and my DH has sheets of pole barn roofing left over so we are going to use that instead of shingles. What I am concerned about is snow sliding off it into the run which will be attached to the side. In the spring also ice sliding off. Do I need a whole new roof design when useing metal?

 

[patandchickens]

The best thing would be to have the coop roof pitched so that it dumps AWAY FROM the run. This will keep your run drier, too.

If you can't do that, and the roof is large enough that it could accumulate a dangerous amount of snow (that could smush a chicken unluckily standing underneath when it let go), personally I would build a second little 'porch roof' along that side, pitched to one side to cathc and divert snow dumps.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Do you have photos of your current set up? Can you make the roof slope away from your runs? Metal is the best in snowy/icy climates--shingles would not work where we live. Of course, having the roof pitched enough and exposed to southern sunshine is good, too.

 

[cooper38]

The problem with metal roofing is not the snow sliding off. What I mean by that is snow doesnt slide off metal roofing, it is ice from the thaw- freeze affect on the snow. As the snow sets on the metal it will thaw and freeze back causing ice to build up on the under side of the snow. When it breaks loose you get Ice with snow coming down. I have replaced alot of decks from the ice/snow coming down on them. To help prevent it is to put a snow guard or ice dam about 10" to 12" from the eave.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Call it what you want, that's what I'm talking about --- sudden huge snowloads dumping off the roof onto unsuspecting chickens below.

If the roof is small, especially if it is small and not too steeply pitched, it's not much of a problem. The bigger the roof is, the more it would be worth creating a diversion/protection 'porch' like I described. Whether to do that is up to you.

You COULD put one on of those avalanche guard things that stick up, but I am not sure they would work well on a small roof (and honestly even when they're on a big roof, you still can get enough snow coming down suddenly sometimes that it would probably not do a chicken any good).

OTOH, the chances of a chicken ACTUALLY being underneath at these moments is pretty small, and I can't say as I've ever heard of someone's chicken being killed that way, despite a lot of BYCers having metal roofs. I know my horses tend to leave as soon as they hear the snowload starting to slide, chickens may have the same instinct.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[latebloomer]

my two cents is that the ice-damming is a result of heat loss through the ceiling.

insulation at the ceiling can reduce this

i'm planning to use the same rigid insulation that i used in the sloped ceilings of my house upstairs in my chick coop, on the inside of the structure to eliminate thermal bridging through the studs.

any thoughts on that?

 

[patandchickens]

I am not convinced how much of the big-snow-dump thing is from ice dams, as you get 'em plenty good on unheated sheds/barns as well. (I have very little experience with metal roofs on *houses* so am not going to offer an opinion on the relative size of the snow-buildup-and-release, but it does it enough off unheated roofs that it's hard for me to imagine it could be a *lot* worse on houses

and in any case, chicken coops are more or less the unheated-building scenario anyhow)

Definitely if you live somewhere that gets enough snow to be even having this discussion LOL you SHOULD indeed insulate the underside of your roof. NOT for any reasons related to snow buildup but rather because if you don't the bare metal will create a real bad 'condensation farm' that will keep your coop overly humid and frostbite-y despite your best efforts at ventilation.

Just insulate *between* the rafters, though... there is just no meaningful thermal bridging going to occur, the temperature differential is just not *that* great (unless you're doing something really weird!). Honest.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Sylvialarry]

We have a metal roof on our coop and we have also covered the run with metal roofing. The snow slides off the back of their roof and the run stays dry, well damp in the winter but no snow.

Sylvia

 

[Cebarmlds]

Thanks everyone for your ideas and thoughts on this. The coop will be 8x12 and I will be insulating it, the run will have wire top but not a roof. We don't usually get tons of snowfall at a time but it can be lots at times. We get the slide off on the pole building but that is a much larger roof so maybe I'll go with the original basic roof design and deal with it if/when I need to. No matter what it will be better than the current coop!

 

[valley ranch]

We got over 25' of snow this year. All our roofs are metal. Shed it away from the run. If you have a wire top on your run it will collect snow also, If you get 1' of snow it will sag or smash the run unless you are using 6" hog wire up there. Good luck with it.