The idle musings of a former military man, former computer geek, medically retired pastor and now full-time writer. Contents guaranteed to offend the politically correct and anal-retentive from time to time. My approach to life is that it should be taken with a large helping of laughter, and sufficient firepower to keep it tamed!
Sunday, January 22, 2017
An ingenious way to clear heavy snow off your roof
I wouldn't have thought of this method, but it seems to work well. The only tricky bit would be to get up to the top of the roof to lead the string or rope.
Ingenious! Just stand well back when you tug on that line . . .
In the AF there was parachute cord tied to the top of the radar dome dangling down to the catwalk, you grabbed it and walked around the dome to clear the snow. Same principal.
This, this is why we should be allowed to own our very own recoilless rifle. One of those early 57mm jobs from WWII would be perfect....
Actually, a nice monkey fist to toss a line over the roof and a loyal, brave (and mostly clueless assistant) and you could make quite a bit of spare change in a crowded neighborhood. Hell, go full Tom Sawyer...
At least this guy was smart enough to have a built in ladder to get on his roof. Nice feature and one I wonder why those with steep, especially metal, roofs don't install. Or at a minimum anchor points along the ridgeline.
JK Brown, I've seen (from the tv) lots of houses up in Alaska have metal roofs and a ladder, and even tie-off rings on the ridgeline. Guess it's something the rest of us in the lower 49 need to learn (especially when the mini-Ice Age starts again.)
Would make for servicing roof-mounted items a lot easier, too.
Last time we got a real snowfall in North Alabama the main impact was the loss of literally tens of thousands of chickens as snow collapsed the roofs of their chicken houses. Two guys and a rope could have saved most of them, but it never occurred to the farmers that snow was heavy.
If your house has a permanent ladder system installed to access the roof, then it would be a small next step to install a permanent snow rope pulley system. Perhaps powered by a vehicle winch (not wench)?
Many years ago Philly got a huge wet snow and slush storm. We noticed our flat back porch roof was making some ominous creaking noises and showing some water leaks. I climbed up to push the snow and slush off the roof.
Lessons learned. Make sure the ladder legs have broken through all the crust snow layers and the ladder is sitting firmly on frozen ground. When you fail the above, and one leg of the ladder breaks through the snow, and thus launches you to the side and off the ladder you learn a few more lessons. When the castle defenders push the attacking ladder to one side it is a good thing from the viewpoint of the castle defender, but if you are riding the ladder your viewpoint is quite different. The expression, "screaming like a little girl" turns out to be not as much of an exaggeration as one would have thought. Unlike the movies, you will not be able to let go of the ladder and grab the roof edge. Because of human reaction times versus film reaction times. When you are pushing the snow and slush off the roof, try to push it into one big pile. Arrange to be on apparent good terms with a higher power so that you land in the big pile of snow and slush. No injuries, just shook up, cold and wet.
Too much snow on the roof WILL cause roof collapse. Extra especially if the snow in question is wet snow, whether it was a "wet" snow when it fell or because temperatures warmed up enough to soften everything.
I really like this guy's roof/ladder setup though......
In the AF there was parachute cord tied to the top of the radar dome dangling down to the catwalk, you grabbed it and walked around the dome to clear the snow. Same principal.
ReplyDeleteWell, that is different for sure. Wonder if you could get the string up there before the snow fell?
ReplyDeleteThis, this is why we should be allowed to own our very own recoilless rifle. One of those early 57mm jobs from WWII would be perfect....
ReplyDeleteActually, a nice monkey fist to toss a line over the roof and a loyal, brave (and mostly clueless assistant) and you could make quite a bit of spare change in a crowded neighborhood. Hell, go full Tom Sawyer...
At least this guy was smart enough to have a built in ladder to get on his roof. Nice feature and one I wonder why those with steep, especially metal, roofs don't install. Or at a minimum anchor points along the ridgeline.
ReplyDeleteJK Brown, I've seen (from the tv) lots of houses up in Alaska have metal roofs and a ladder, and even tie-off rings on the ridgeline. Guess it's something the rest of us in the lower 49 need to learn (especially when the mini-Ice Age starts again.)
ReplyDeleteWould make for servicing roof-mounted items a lot easier, too.
But why do you want it off your roof? It's great insulation.
ReplyDelete@a bear
ReplyDeleteTo keep your roof from attempting to be at the same level as your foundation.
I just spent an hour looking at Youtube videos of people trying to get snow off roofs. Some are ingenious, others are hilarious.
ReplyDeleteLast time we got a real snowfall in North Alabama the main impact was the loss of literally tens of thousands of chickens as snow collapsed the roofs of their chicken houses. Two guys and a rope could have saved most of them, but it never occurred to the farmers that snow was heavy.
ReplyDeleteIf your house has a permanent ladder system installed to access the roof, then it would be a small next step to install a permanent snow rope pulley system. Perhaps powered by a vehicle winch (not wench)?
ReplyDeleteMany years ago Philly got a huge wet snow and slush storm. We noticed our flat back porch roof was making some ominous creaking noises and showing some water leaks. I climbed up to push the snow and slush off the roof.
Lessons learned.
Make sure the ladder legs have broken through all the crust snow layers and the ladder is sitting firmly on frozen ground.
When you fail the above, and one leg of the ladder breaks through the snow, and thus launches you to the side and off the ladder you learn a few more lessons.
When the castle defenders push the attacking ladder to one side it is a good thing from the viewpoint of the castle defender, but if you are riding the ladder your viewpoint is quite different.
The expression, "screaming like a little girl" turns out to be not as much of an exaggeration as one would have thought.
Unlike the movies, you will not be able to let go of the ladder and grab the roof edge. Because of human reaction times versus film reaction times.
When you are pushing the snow and slush off the roof, try to push it into one big pile.
Arrange to be on apparent good terms with a higher power so that you land in the big pile of snow and slush.
No injuries, just shook up, cold and wet.
Too much snow on the roof WILL cause roof collapse. Extra especially if the snow in question is wet snow, whether it was a "wet" snow when it fell or because temperatures warmed up enough to soften everything.
ReplyDeleteI really like this guy's roof/ladder setup though......
Perhaps powered by a vehicle winch (not wench)?
ReplyDeleteWell you could power it with a wench, but you'd have to get her away from the warm fire and hot cocoa in the house first...