The Old Folks Home

[bruceha2000]

Quote: Snow rails


Unless your roof can't support the weight of the snow/ice they hold back. I put these up after the stack flange was mashed when the 8" of ice came off the roof in the spring two years ago. In chunks up to 8+ feet wide by several feet 'deep'. If there had been a rail on the deck there would no longer have been a rail on the deck. Roofer mentioned the weight issue. By my "calculation", if it can hold that ice during the winter without rails to keep it from sliding, it can hold the ice while it melts.

Our deer population has been declining slightly mainly due to the fact that a lot of restrictions have been lifted such as point count on bucks mainly due to an outbreak of chronic wasting disease in the area a couple/three years ago. We haven't seen a deer in our timber since hunting season. Rabbits galore but no deer. DH and I just walked back to put up our game camera and found little tufts of bunny hair on our main trail and scattered over in the neighbor's pasture. No predator prints around it so it was probably a hawk or owl kill. I've heard that when the rabbit population is up, the coyote population will be up also. Oh joy.

We had way more wild rabbits this year than the prior 4 years we have had this house. Out 2 nights ago. Coyote pack howling to the NE, 15 minutes later a coyote pack to the SW, another 15 minutes or so later a coyote pack no more than 300 yards distant to the south. I doubt it was one pack moving around.

Yep on the population cycles.

What I hate though..... is when the bunnies have their crash!!

then the bumper crop of predators suddenly can find no more bunnies...so...... yeppers, look for CHICKEN!!

Lovely. My future.

 

[Kusanar]

Quote: Snow rails


Unless your roof can't support the weight of the snow/ice they hold back. I put these up after the stack flange was mashed when the 8" of ice came off the roof in the spring two years ago. In chunks up to 8+ feet wide by several feet 'deep'. If there had been a rail on the deck there would no longer have been a rail on the deck. Roofer mentioned the weight issue. By my "calculation", if it can hold that ice during the winter without rails to keep it from sliding, it can hold the ice while it melts.

They also have the little spade shaped things that slice the snow and ice into smaller chunks when it starts breaking loose. People use them a lot around here since we get a lot of wet snow and ice in the winter, not much fluffy stuff, the weight would probably cause damage.

Those things don't keep the snow or ice from coming down, but they do slow it down and keep it from coming off in a big sheet that could crush you

 

[microchick]

That is an excellent idea. We lost three solar panels that we had mounted against the house once due to ice sliding off the roof with about 8 inches of snow on top of the ice. We thought the panels were protected but we didn't account for the size of the sheet ice and snow that could potentially slide off our metal roof. Lesson learned the hard and expensive way.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Wow

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My roofer suggested not putting those on... still have the old shingle roof under my metal roof. No extra weight for us, thanks.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We are doing okay got out 6 now just cold Greenhouse collapsed on itself
when the snow melts we can look..
birds are happy today the prepackaged coleslaw in out little grocery was
marked on sale 99 so bought three for my girls

 

[Alaskan]

My roofer suggested not putting those on... still have the old shingle roof under my metal roof. No extra weight for us, thanks.

You could decide to spend lots of money and install the equivalent of heat tape all along the edge of your roof....it melts the snow right off.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Alaskan giving the secrets away aren't you used that years ago on my Kennel
up there in Juneau even along my pathway for chihuahua I raised back then

 

[bruceha2000]

They also have the little spade shaped things that slice the snow and ice into smaller chunks when it starts breaking loose. People use them a lot around here since we get a lot of wet snow and ice in the winter, not much fluffy stuff, the weight would probably cause damage.

Those things don't keep the snow or ice from coming down, but they do slow it down and keep it from coming off in a big sheet that could crush you

Roof Snow Angels. One interesting thing about them is they provide protection in a V shape up the roof. A little sticks to the upper side of the angel and a bit wider and then more sticks to that, etc, etc, etc. So you will see them patterned up the roof rather than in parallel lines like snow rails.

That is an excellent idea. We lost three solar panels that we had mounted against the house once due to ice sliding off the roof with about 8 inches of snow on top of the ice. We thought the panels were protected but we didn't account for the size of the sheet ice and snow that could potentially slide off our metal roof. Lesson learned the hard and expensive way.

WAY more expensive than if I had railing that would have been blown apart.

My roofer suggested not putting those on... still have the old shingle roof under my metal roof. No extra weight for us, thanks.

I find it sad that people are too lazy to remove old roofing before putting on new. It doesn't take much time to shovel off old shingles so even if you pay someone to do it, the cost is minimal. Instead, your roof is carrying extra weight year round. If you get one of those snow rain snow things, you have tons of ice stuck on your roof anyway. It WON'T slide off an asphalt shingle roof and please look at the picture. That is a 7 month old standing seam roof with exactly one penetration. Nothing to give the snow/ice "grip" - the ice was up there for 3 months. If you put asphalt over asphalt it is money poorly spent. The underlying old shingles will shorten the life of the new shingles.

Quote:
And then the rest slides all at once as the metal roof heats up under the ice!

 

[chickisoup]

Heat tapes Alaskan, really???? You are a sadist, aren't you.

about the disappearing yotes. What happens up here is just another "cycle". When the yote population gets out of hand, causing "over crowding" in a territory, mother nature restores the balance with an outbreak of mange. Thins them back out pretty efficiently. Makes the yote hunters unhappy tho. DNR still pays for the pelts anyway.

Roof bars? We don't need no stinkin' roof bars

Seriously, we just came in less than an hour ago from clearing the roofs. DH worked on the house while I cleared the garden cottage (aka guest/hunters bunkhouse turned DH's workshop) the metal canopy roof we park carts, etc. under in winter, the feed shed, the coop, etc. Everything has a steel roof except my workshop/sun shed and the greenhouse. They have polyvinyl clear roofing. Wasn't that much of a snow build up but we had 3" of the heavy wet stuff over night and the temps are supposed to plunge to well below zero for the next several nights, not getting above single digits during the day and windchills dropping into the -20's (or worse) and staying there thru Sunday. This would turn that wet snow, and any under it, into a huge, heavy lump of ice.
DH and I have matching roof rakes, so sweet, and we just get out there and clear things off anytime it's needed, not letting it build up to where it could become dangerous.
Getting harder as we are both old fogies now but it's still good winter "arobics".
Not a bad thing since we will definitely be in hybernation mode for the next several days