Winter Preventive Maintenance

How much snow on a flat roof is too much?

In cold climates, flat commercial roofs can collect several feet of snow over the winter. In many cases it is important to have the snow professionally removed to avoid damage to the structure, drainage system or other parts of the roof. As a building stakeholder, unmanaged snow and lack of a winter snow removal plan can cause many issues to your investment.

Some damage caused by snow accumulation include:

    • Falling snow and ice
    • Blocked access to building systems and features
    • Damage to the drainage system
    • Damage to the roofing membranes
    • Roof collapse or structural damage

There are a couple things one can do to prevent risk from snow build-up. Before the snow comesyou may be able to have snow protection features installed. You can also create a snow removal plan to share with your building manager. This would include finding your building’s snow load, drawing out a roof map and familiarizing yourself with FEMA guidelines for snow removal from your flat roof.  

A light layer of snow on a commercial flat roof is typically not an issue. In fact, it should often be left alone as needless snow removal can damage the roof membranes as well. This is why it is important to find your flat roof’s snow load and to reach out to the professionals when it seems possible that the load is getting too heavy.

At O’Hara’s Son Roofing we have experts that can help you prepare a snow removal plan. Once that plan is in place and it seems the load could be getting heavy, we can send out one of our experts to take a small sample of the snow to test its weight. This can save you a lot of money as you may be able to avoid snow removal if that sample shows the snow to be lighter than feared.

Need help making a snow removal plan? Interested in what snow protection features we can install on your commercial roof?

Contact OSR today!