Sunday, March 27, 2011

Loving Our Roof

Our roof has been doing a great job of keeping the snow from getting crazy up top, but there are times that I could argue it’s doing too good of a job. The pitch on the front of our house is fairly steep, but because it’s facing North, it doesn’t get much in the way of sun exposure. Consequently, the snow doesn’t clear as efficiently. Not like the back, at least.

This comes back to haunt you, however, and in a big way. Once the weather warms up a bit, the snow/ice slides down with a vengeance, and just happens to cover up the walkway out front, on a fairly regular basis, no less. Best of all, because it’s frozen, it not only weighs a ton (thus breaking my back when I shovel it), but it takes quite a bit of effort to break it up. Good thing I’ve got my new shovel with the steel edge. It’s like a Navy ice breaker cutting through the Antarctic tundra.

I realize I’m whining about all this, but I’m grateful that we have our new roof, because it accomplishes on its own what I’ve had to do in past Winters, which is clear off all that darn snow. Plus, when we had shingles, the back wouldn’t clear because it has much less pitch. I had to go up there and rake it, and it wasn’t fun being up that high with snow pouring down over you. I realize I’m losing man-points in admitting this, but such is life.

It was also hard because we kept getting ice dams, which are a chore to clear, especially way up high. As much as I seem to complain about clearing snow off the ground, we love our metal roof, because I’d rather be clearing it with my feet on the ground than 25 feet up in the air. We were also having leaking issues with our old roof, which we have not seen this year.

So, I have to give a resounding thumbs up to our standing seam roof. As our contractor friend said, it’s way to go in New England.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

6 comments:

Santo said...

It's great to know you are loving your new roof. It looks even lovelier now. Well, it is frustrating to have snow covering up your walkway, I agree with that. If you have a problem cleaning snow from your current roof, you can ask experts on the appropriate roof to be installed.

Santo Caridine

Sierra said...

Beware! Removing snow from the roof can be very risky. Don’t even try to go up there without anybody to assist you. Always take safety into consideration first. If your roof is too steep, it’ll be a lot safer if you let a professional handle the removal instead. Indeed, there’s no amount of damage to your home that is worth falling off your roof.

~ Sierra Nordgren

Joanne Barragan said...

I agree @Sierra. Removing snow should be done very carefully. Shoveling the snow off your roof may severely damage its surface when done incorrectly. It’s good to seek help from a professional roofer’s assistance to save yourself from more problems.

- Joanne Barragan

Alison Mckenzie said...

Well, let’s look at it this way – it’s much easier and safer to clean snow off of the ground than from the top of a steep, and now rather slippery, roof! The important thing is that your new roof is cleaner, safer, has no more leaks, and you now no longer need to risk yourself by going up every so often to clean off the snow!

Allison Mckenzie

Galliena said...

Allison is totally right! The fall is a lot shorter from the ground than from the top of a roof, hehe! On a more serious note though, it’s actually better when the snow falls off of the roof instead of just staying there. Snow, as I’m sure you know, can still be pretty heavy as it piles up. So a substantial amount of snow can do some pretty bad damage to an average roof if the snow stays there and gets heavier and heavier. The snow coming off of the roof is actually saving you a lot of money that you might otherwise have been spending on roof repairs.

Galliena Gornet

Chantay said...

It’s good thing that you love your roof. A metal roof is very durable. It can withstand drastic changes in weather conditions, from extreme heat to extreme cold. It is also very durable against leaks. You may have to clear out the ice dams during the winter period, and your roof may need a bit of patching up after, but you can rest assured that it will hold itself together, even under the severest of weathers.

Chantay Smithingell