Flat roof: should the snow be removed? Opinion and advice of FORUMHOUSE members

One of the characteristic disadvantages of a flat roof is considered to be insufficient waterproofing. Therefore, an acute question arises - is it worth removing snow from such a roof? Let's see what the forum users think about this.

Question

Member of our portal xhouse:

“I always thought that the snow should only warm up, and the roof should withstand, if it is made with a margin for the load. But on the Internet there is an opinion that it must be cleaned of snow, otherwise it will not stand.

I have a one-story house, ceiling 3.6 m, aerated concrete D600 (with reinforcement), armored belt, floor slabs 6 m. Location - Moscow region.

How to build a house in the mind so that the roof can withstand snow without cleaning? "

Advice and opinions

Green-roof, FORUMHOUSE member, professional roofer:

“A normal roof doesn't need cleaning. There are cases when it is necessary to clean the snow, whether it is the wrong roof or, for example, in spring, during a thaw. And to constantly clean it is stupidity, but in general now you can install heating, the cost is cheap compared to the roof, it works only at the beginning of the thaw, and that's it!

FORUMHOUSE ArtHome user:

“Before building such a house, you need to make a calculation. We enter into the search engine: calculation of snow load; on the first link we find the map. For example, for the Moscow region we see the calculated load for a flat roof of 180 kg / m2. If you have a roof area of ​​100 m2, then the foundation, walls and floor slabs must withstand additional load of 18 tons. Next, consider how much area is per floor slab, google calculator slabs. Then you determine the pressure on the walls, then on the foundation.

P. S. Only maniacs regularly clean snow from roofs. The vast majority of apartment buildings in cities with flat roofs and it never occurs to anyone to throw snow down from them. "

Vladgla Forum Member:

“Any covering made for a flat roof has to withstand the snow load, and therefore there is no need to clean the snow. This is, in fact, the behavior of the owners of all public buildings with a flat roof, built both 70 years ago and yesterday.

The only way to justify the harmfulness of snow for a flat roof is its property to melt in spring, starting from the top. In this case, the lower layer (still frozen) does not allow the resulting water to drain into the gutters (funnels and trays). Then there is water on the roof - in the form of puddles or a pond. And in this situation, a high level of adhesion of the flat roof covering to the walls and sides around the perimeter is in demand - so that the water in this bath stands until the end of the snow melting. However, if the water intake funnels are electrically heated, then you just need to turn it on and the water will go away. "

Forum member FatraSPB:

“It's better to clean snow! Standing water will leak faster! Therefore, it is better to keep the volume of water as small as possible! "

Member of the dgan1 portal:

“If the roof is completely flat, without a slope, then cleaning is mandatory. If there is a slight slope, then the snow slowly slides off of it by itself. The water is drained. And it is advisable to clean it before the thaw, dry snow is not dangerous, wet and then turned into ice is dangerous. It all depends on the strength of the snowfall and on your desire to save the roof. And yet, at work, we were always sent to clean the flat roofs of workshops in winter ”.

Do you think a flat roof needs to be cleaned of snow? Write in the comments!

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