When snow and ice accumulate on your roof, it can be a very dangerous situation. Using snow guards can both protect your home and the longevity of your roof. By ensuring that the snow does not slide and cause cracks in your roof, a snow guard will allow the snow to melt gradually and avoid any harm done to your roof. Here are some other benefits of installing snow guards.

Wise investment

If you live in an area where it typically snows a lot in the winter, it would be a wise investment for you and your family to get snow guards for your home. Not only does it protect your roof and your home, but it also protects anyone from being harmed by any falling ice or snow.

The purpose of snow guards

The purpose of the snow guard is to allow the snow to fully melt before it runs off the roof. This way you will not be surprised by any large amounts of snow and ice falling from your roof. Your roof will also last much longer when it is protected from ice forming and cracking your roof.

Avoid liability

As a business owner, it may be an opportunity to avoid any unnecessary liability issues as well. You wouldn’t want to be sued for a piece of ice hitting and injuring any innocent customers. If you are willing to invest in a snow guard before it’s too late you can save yourself from a lot of pain, lawsuits, or fees for reparations on your roof and other property.

Just because your house does not include built-in roof ventilation does not mean that it is not important. Initially it may seem like an additional and unnecessary stress, but once installed it can make a huge difference in the lifespan of your attic and roof structure. Eventually, these installations will save you hundreds of dollars in repair costs.

The benefits

The ventilation process is beneficial in the extreme weather months throughout the year. During the summer the ventilation helps keep the temperature down in the attic, preventing moisture from collecting and deteriorating shingles. These lower temperatures then affect the rest of the home as well, keeping energy and air conditioning costs down.

Once it begins to get cold outside, the ventilation is still able to maintain a dry environment for the attic and reduce the moisture inside. Typically, water would build up under the shingles, the insulation would become damaged, and the roof structure would rot.

Ice dams

In addition, without roof ventilation your home may begin to produce ice dams on your roof. In areas of extreme cold, roofs need special protection from the ice and snowfall in order to prevent it from building up and blocking the natural flow of melted water off of the roof. If not installed these ice dams often start leaks inside homes which then results in drywall damage.

Save yourself more money and more headaches by installing roof ventilation today. You will be grateful in both the usually hot summer months and freezing winter months.

photo credit: gcraig3si via photopin cc

Every homeowner has one large decision to make concerning the composition of their home.  This major choice is determining the roofing material they will use on the roofs of their home.

Choosing your roof

The roof of a home is one of the most important aspects for the overall protection and shelter of the home itself, and as such the roof needs to be durable, functional, and cost effective.  While there are many different options for homeowners to choose from when deciding on what type of roofing material to use, one of the best options is steel roofing or corrugated steel roofs.

Why corrugated steel roofs?

Many times and for various reasons, corrugated steel roofs are not thought of as a viable option by homeowners, but those who completely disregard corrugated steel roofing for their home are losing out on a roofing material that provides some great advantages.  Steel roofs hold many benefits but a few of the most advantageous include the following:

• Longevity. Steel roofs are among the longest lasting roofing material on the market.  They are so long lasting, in fact, that often a homeowner will only need to install the new roof once unlike other roofing materials that need to be replaced every twenty years or so with multiple repairs along the way
• Durability.  If the steel is galvanized, as most steel roofs are, than they are less prone to rust and completely resistant to rot, again unlike other shingle materials.

These are just three of the main advantages of having a corrugated steel roof installed on the home.  Homeowners should strive to learn all they can about steel roofing and its multiple other advantages before making the final decision on which roofing type to place atop their homes.

Outdoor retailer, Cabela’s, is constructing their first store in Delaware with protection from snow and ice avalanches by using TRA Snow and Sun Standing Seam Clamps on the roof.

The “Caution: Falling Ice” signs are out again.

But not at the new Cabela’s outdoor specialty store in Christiana, Delaware, the first in the state and 48th in the US and Canada.  Customers will notice the familiar log construction, stonework, big windows, and metal roof.  Closer looks up at the roof will show evidence of Cabela’s attention to customers’ safety – snow fences which use TRA Snow and Sun’s standing seam clamps designed to stop dangerous avalanching snow and ice.  Cabela’s CEO, Tommy Millner, has stated that Cabela’s wants to “deliver a premier retail experience” and that premier experience apparently extends to the safety of customers walking in.

Experts agree that chances of being struck by an avalanche of snow and ice off a roof are not high, but when it does happen it can be tragic.   Every year hundreds of people are injured and many killed when chunks of snow and ice fall off a roof. At least one hundred fifty people were injured and dozens killed worldwide during the cold winter of 2010.  In addition building owners are sometimes sued for not protecting the public from falling snow and ice.  The upscale retailer, Neiman Markus, was sued when one man was killed from a large piece of ice which slid off the roof from their Chicago store.  That suit resulted in a $4.5 million settlement against them.*

Cabela’s is one of the more safety-minded retailers who are beginning to take precautions on their own initiative since most building codes don’t require builders to install snow fences or snow brackets or even to display caution signs about falling snow or ice.

During the winter, snow builds up on roofs. Then eventually there will be a warm spell, sometimes accompanied by rain, and the glaciers that have formed on the roof, slide downwards, usually quickly and without warning.  Being underneath when this happens might mean being impaled by an icicle!

Since Christiana receives snow between December and March with a snowload of 25 pounds per square foot, roof snow retention is an obvious safety consideration.  The roof on this Cabela’s rises 8 inches in every 12, so the chance of snow and ice sliding right over the eave is great.  A snow and ice avalanche can cause damage and even death to anyone who happens to be underneath when the avalanche happens.

In the case of this Cabela’s metal roof, the one-rail standing seam clamp on snow fence was chosen by HK Griffith for its ease of installation and engineered design.  Jake Owsley, Inside Sales Representative for TRA Snow and Sun, recounts, “Our C-2-1-Z one rail standing seam clamp was perfect for this job.  Its simple installation method of tightening down two 9/16” nuts with a torque wrench is a great labor advantage as opposed to set screw options resulting in additional man hours for installation.”

Tim Brown of HK Griffith Inc. stated he could save tremendously on labor costs because of TRA’s easy attachment method.   In addition, TRA Snow and Sun was able to powder-coat each part of the standing seam clamps to match the metal roofing product.

According to Owsley, “The customer contacted us in May of 2013 and we went through the free engineering process.   It’s very important we design a system that takes into account the specific snowload of the region, the roof type and the slope.  If those things aren’t calculated, the customer is taking chances on the snow fence being able to hold back an avalanche resulting in roof damage, injury, and even death.”

The Christiana Cabela’s standing seam clamps are being installed now and the store will open in the spring of 2014.  There won’t be any “Caution: Falling Ice” signs displayed at this new Cabela’s thanks to the snow retention system in place up on the roof.

* Cheryl J. Larsen, Special Administrator of the Estate of Donald Booth, Deceased v. The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc.; O&Y (U.S.) Development General Partner Corp., a corporation; O&Y (U.S.) Development Company, L.P., a corporation; Joseph McElroy, Robert T. Price, Larry D. Kenny and Larry Dematteo, Circuit Court of Cook County Number 97 L 11368.

H. K. Griffith, Inc. is a commercial/industrial contractor providing roofing and sheet metal services in Delware and the surrounding state for more than 35 years. They have built a reputation on high quality installation, preventative maintenance, safety and service. For more information visit http://www.hkgriffith.com/

TRA Snow and Sun, Inc., located in American Fork, Utah, offers Roof Snow Retention Devices, Solar Mounting Systems and Roof Flashing Solutions. They supply to all types of customers, from the individual homeowner to the big developer and offer free engineered designs of all their systems. For more information call Jake Owsley at TRA Snow and Sun at 800-606-8980 or visit https://trasnowandsun.com/product-category/snow-retention/.