A snowstorm this previous weekend dropped greater than 6 inches of recent powder on my home. Nothing main in these elements. However the newest winter forecast is asking for rather more within the days forward — no less than a foot, and perhaps as a lot as 18 inches, with brutal chilly temperatures blended in for good measure.
As a local New Englander, I am ready. We have now shovels, sand and a man who involves plow the lengthy driveway. However what actually captures my consideration is overhead. In winter, I am obsessive about my roof — and with a easy instrument that is turn out to be an indispensable ally in sustaining my home correctly throughout cold weather.
My roof rake.
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It is not a lot to have a look at. Sixteen ft of aluminum pole with a perpendicular 22-inch-wide blue plastic blade at one finish. But it surely makes all of the distinction in holding melting snow from turning into streams of water that leak into the home. That’ll injury partitions, ceilings, lighting fixtures and the rest that is beneath the drip, drip, drip. Over time, it might develop right into a mould downside.
Inside your home, leak detectors are helpful devices for every kind of water mishaps, however prevention is at all times the higher coverage.
When you dwell in an space that is within the path of snowy winter climate, take note of the buildup in your roof. In a single sense, snow on the roof is a optimistic factor. It signifies that you’ve got ample insulation in your ceiling and attic to stop heat air from escaping, in addition to correct air flow to assist preserve the roof cool.
However that snow will soften, producing runoff that heads downhill to your eaves and gutters. And that is the place the issue begins.
The winter of 2015 was a brutal one in Massachusetts, with roughly 90 inches of snow falling in lower than a month. That yr, the ice dams gained.
As that water reaches the sting of your roof, it turns into extra uncovered to chilly temperatures, and it will refreeze, creating ice dams. These frozen blockages will construct up and stop the following waves of meltwater from falling harmlessly off your roof. The place does that water go? It backs up beneath your shingles and thru the roof decking, following a brand new gravitational pathway into your residing areas.
I’ve witnessed this leaking. I’ve repaired the injury. I’ve vowed by no means to let it occur once more.
Which is why I am outdoors proper after each snowfall, raking away.
There are not any actually compelling technological fixes for this downside. There isn’t a Roomba in your rooftop. Complete-roof heating techniques do exist, however they price 1000’s of {dollars} and are a big development venture. Right here in New England, it’s normal to see houses with a heating cable snaked alongside the decrease portion of the roof, simply above the eaves. However for my home, even that extra modest possibility would seemingly run someplace between $1,000 and $2,000 to put in.
With any heating system, there’ll even be ongoing electrical energy prices and a probably messy cycle of melting and refreezing.
A roof rake will set you again less than $200. It is low tech, and it really works.
Find out how to deal with a roof rake
I have been utilizing my roof rake after each snowstorm, even the minor ones, for a lot of a snowy winter right here in central Massachusetts.
I needed to study the laborious approach. Earlier than I purchased my roof rake, I went after the ice dams themselves, after they’d already turn out to be approach too thick, and water was dripping, generally fiercely, into the home. I used to be outdoors on a ladder, within the chilly, whaling away with a hatchet. Not the way in which to go.
That is me, clearing the roof after a refreshingly mild snowfall.
A roof rake is a lot faster and easier — and once more, it is that all-important ounce of prevention. You stand on the bottom, attain up with the rake and gently pull a giant shovel’s value of snow off the roof at a time. Take a step or two and repeat the method. I get round my home in about 20 minutes.
OK, it’s a gentle arm and shoulder exercise. The rake does not weigh a lot, however it’s top-heavy, and also you’re reaching up and away out of your physique. When the snow is thick, moist, crusty or all the above, you may need to make an additional effort with every stroke.
However for those who’re aware of the customarily backbreaking work of shoveling snow, you may welcome the change of tempo.
How a lot snow do it’s a must to pull down? The guides I’ve learn advocate clearing as a lot as 6 ft up from the eaves, and once I began raking my roof, I used to go simply so far as I might attain. If I wasn’t hitting that 6-foot mark, I used to be getting shut.
Over time, although, I’ve discovered that simply 1 to 2 ft is mostly ample. That is the important space, proper previous the eaves, the place freezing and ice dam buildup happen.
The guides additionally advise going straightforward when scraping right down to the roof shingles, so you do not put on them out prematurely. I’ve to admit I am not that fastidious — I am often dragging proper alongside the shingles themselves, fairly than attempting to go away a skinny coating of snow — and it hasn’t gave the impression to be an issue.
And for heaven’s sake, be aware of the place the ability traces come into your home. You are waving a metallic pole within the air, in spite of everything.
Keep in mind to put on heavy gloves once you’re roof-raking. The aluminum pole will get actually chilly to the contact.
What’s the appropriate roof rake to purchase?
Like leaf rakes, roof rakes haven’t got plenty of selection. A typical roof rake comes with 4 4-foot lengths of aluminum pole that you just connect finish to finish to get the total size, plus the brief blade attachment. (Mine has three 5-foot lengths, together with the blade phase.) The width of the blade ranges between roughly 17 and 24 inches.
The 16-foot size I’ve is sufficient for my home, a raised ranch, even on the aspect the place the bottom slopes away and I can get simply the primary foot or so of snow on the fringe of the roof. You probably have a taller home otherwise you actually wish to clear approach up excessive, you can at all times get extra sections. The blade part of my pole angles towards the roof, which is useful.
Some rakes have little wheels on the underside of the blade to keep away from scraping straight on the shingles. Looks as if a sensible design.
Different roof rakes aren’t truly rakes in any respect. As a substitute of getting a blade, the enterprise finish is open, with prongs holding one finish of a plastic slide that runs parallel to the pole. As a substitute of pulling, you push into the snow, and the slide gives a slick runway so that you can fall to the bottom. I’ve by no means tried one in all these, however having spent sufficient time wielding a regular roof rake, I’ve my doubts. It appears finest fitted to powder.
Costs for roof rakes sometimes vary from $50 to $60 and may get to round $200. Years again, I purchased a really fundamental mannequin, and it is nonetheless going robust — a wonderful funding.
Gone are the times once I truly went up onto my roof and tried shoveling along with raking. In equity, that was a legendary winter. In 2015, New England skilled 4 main snowstorms in lower than a month, dumping round 90 inches of snow throughout that brief span. Nobody might sustain.
However in need of one other “Snowmaggedon,” I do know my roof rake will proceed to serve me effectively. Each time a snowstorm wanes, the 2 of us will head outdoors to begin the clearing.
