Can A Machine Shed Be Repaired After Roof Has Collapsed From Snow

smoorman

Posted 12/27/2010 15:17 (#1509441)
Subject: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

Manchester, IA

3 foot of snow on roof...buildings going down in neighborhood...
Should i but heat in bldg? block up trussed?
Am going to try and get help to pull snow off.... fminder

Posted 12/27/2010 15:21 (#1509444 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: RE: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

Run every engine you have in building, will add a lot of heat.. MNRyeGrower

Posted 12/27/2010 15:26 (#1509450 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

Central MN

Best solution is to hike on up there and start shoveling. Actually, thats probably the only solution. Ever see those push shovel scoops? That is what I find works the best. Use gravity to help you shove the snow off the eve or at least get it close.

This is not the exact shovel I use but it is close:

http://www.amazon.com/Garant-YPSS26-2-Inch-Ergonomic-Sleigh/dp/B000...

you can use this to get the snow to the edge and then get a roof rake to pull it down the rest of the way while standing on the ground. Here is a roof rake:

http://www.amazon.com/Garelick-89521-21-Foot-Aluminum-24-Inch/dp/B0...

Good luck. Try not to fall off!

If you have a dump wagon, truck etc its nice to park under the eave and haul it away so you don't get snow melting into your shed come spring.

tooth and nail

Posted 12/27/2010 15:29 (#1509454 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

If it's a truss ,I'd be careful as to where to put braces.
May cause more problems.
Many times building collapses when snow slides off 1 side, causing a sudden shift of load. IowaMark

Posted 12/27/2010 16:39 (#1509547 - in reply to #1509450)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

NW Iowa. / SW Arizona

Be careful with the snow roof shovels IF you have a bad back. We had the same problem with alot of snow on roofs last year around here. I bought one of those roof shovels to get the snow off my garage & one of my hog confinements. After about two hours of using that thing my back was shot. I had to go to chiropractor to get me straighten out. This was like 4 days before we went to Cancun for a week. My back bothered me the whole time down there. I don't have the best back in the world so I should have known better.

I really don't have a good solution for you but just be careful whatever you do. It's probably to late now but make sure you have insurance for heavy snow loads. I thought I had it on my hog confinement but when I checked on it they said I didn't. They wouldn't let me put any on it until my insurance man could take a picture of both sides of the roof with NO SNOW on it. So I had to wait until later in the spring AFTER the snow melted off it.

Good luck,
Mark

ratlakefarms

Posted 12/27/2010 17:09 (#1509584 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

La Glace Alberta Canada

Some guys had used a walk behind snow blower up here up we had to do that years ago. Buster 50

Posted 12/27/2010 17:20 (#1509609 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

North West IA/western AZ

Local guy pulled snow off lots of hog confinments with a scraper mounted on his telehandler. 4 or 6' wide blade with wheels on the bottom to keep i off the screw heads and was hooked so the telehandler wouldn't press any weight on the roof. pointrow

Posted 12/27/2010 17:41 (#1509653 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

Central Il Morton

Back in 80's Morton Buildings sent letters to building owners with high snow buildup to place a space heater in a manure bucket and force the heat up under the roof so it would slide off. I decide not to but others did.

good luck

pointrow

ryan elias

Posted 12/27/2010 17:45 (#1509657 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: RE: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

chortitz, manitoba

get up there. Try and do it even on each side as you go or could buckle the trusses. I get up on my house roof after most snowfalls until spring. It always snows more in the winter and it's way easier to do it with 12inch amounts, rather than 3 ft at once.
Al Swearingen

Posted 12/27/2010 19:13 (#1509829 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

North Central Iowa

Watch out for skylights if you are on the roof. You can fall right through. Where are you located? PeteMN

Posted 12/27/2010 19:18 (#1509845 - in reply to #1509657)
Subject: RE: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

E.Central MN

The other problem that happens once in a great while is that the weather warms up and instead of more snow you can get rain. If you have a lot of snow up there already then the extra weight of rain mixed with the snow can cause problems since the rain doesn't run off due to the snow acting like a sponge. sri

Posted 12/27/2010 19:47 (#1509917 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: RE: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

nw pa

call your local fire deptment. Offer a nice donation for some help. Most around here will do it. We have rented some of those supersized space heaters for a day and melted it till it slid off.. Neighbor built a fire in his after moving the equipment out. Dumped a few buckets of dirt on the floor and lit it.Course he had no insulation in the thing just an open shed. Smoked up the inside some but did the job in short order.Although I wouldn't advise it. Long as your trusses have a center chord you can brace under it.otherwise you may have to brace under each chord.
According to cornell university that is a lot of wt. depending on type of snow anywhere from 35 to 60 pounds per square foot. 40 by 60 roof could weigh 45 ton or more.

Edited by sri 12/27/2010 20:10

Jon Hagen

Posted 12/27/2010 20:04 (#1509966 - in reply to #1509609)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP! (PICS)

Hagen Brothers farms,Goodrich ND

Buster 50 - 12/28/2010 16:20

Worked for us last year, this gadget cobbled up from scrap and attached to the FEL.
Using 2 old 750 drill firming wheels to keep the blade above the screw heads and a 3 ft plate blade between them

This is in a 40 year old dairy pole barn with lots of rot in the rafters.
We have saved the rotten thing from colapse many times with wire trussing the rotten rafters and a dozen 4X4 poles from the floor to the top angles of the rafters under the heavy load areas. Screw a 4 X 12 X 1/2 plywood on each side of one end of the post with about 3-4 inchs protruding past the end of the post. Makes an easy "U" groove on the end of the post to keep it on the rafter.

Edited by Jon Hagen 12/27/2010 20:25

(scraper folded.jpg)

(scraper extended.jpg)

(scraper working..jpg)

(Rafter brace 1.jpg)

(Rafter brace 2.jpg)

Attachments
----------------
scraper folded.jpg (35KB - 73 downloads)
scraper extended.jpg (32KB - 63 downloads)
scraper working..jpg (23KB - 75 downloads)
Attachments Rafter brace 1.jpg (30KB - 68 downloads)
Rafter brace 2.jpg (35KB - 64 downloads)

mrtiffany

Posted 12/27/2010 20:17 (#1509989 - in reply to #1509917)
Subject: RE: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

Redwood Falls, MN

I second the skylight comment. Last year I was slovelling snow off the machine shed and went right through a skylight. Ended up with 4 fractures in my skull and a hefty hospital bill for 21 days of ICU care. I don't know what your shed and contents are worth but I would be willing to bet it's not worth what your life is. I'm very lucky to be here so I'm always a little more cautious when it comes to shed roofs. Sun rotted fiberglass skylights don't hold much weight, I would recommend getting as much as you can with a rake or something and stay off the roof and if it still collapses, that's why you have insurance. Best of luck, but be safe. nsfarm

Posted 12/27/2010 20:22 (#1510011 - in reply to #1509657)
Subject: RE: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

Manitoba, Canada

ryan elias - 12/28/2010 16:45

It always snows more in the winter

haha yeah we have that same problem here too. Luckily no big snow storms last summer

oldbones

Posted 12/27/2010 20:34 (#1510055 - in reply to #1509547)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

Floyd County, Iowa

You're lucky if you can put insurance on your building for snowload. I went to south central Minn last January to buy a combine and the roofs were going down left and right in the Truman/St. James area. When I got back home I called my State Farm agent to ask him if my Atsro and Lester's machine sheds were covered for snow load. NO! Could I add insurance for roof collapse? NO! Was told that if buildings were over 5 years old (these are) roofs were not and could not be covered for collapse from snow loads. Contents are covered, but not the roofs. Wind, yes. Fire, yes. Tree falling on them, yes Not snow. House roof IS covered. House built in '65. Sheds built in 70's and 80's. Go figure.
If it gets that bad around here, and it's gettin there now, I'll get the snow off that I can, prop up the bottoms of the trusses, mix up a tall rum & coke, sit back, and hope for the best. behog

Posted 12/27/2010 21:29 (#1510184 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

frederick, MD

I did the heater in the building last year. The snow came sliding off. On the freestatll barn where we had a 5 foot drift on one side we used snowblowers. Smoothlander

Posted 12/27/2010 21:42 (#1510210 - in reply to #1509450)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

MNRyeGrower - 12/27/2010 14:26

Have you forgotten how many people died in 97-98 from climbing onto their roof to shovel snow?

You are better off using heat to get the snow to move.

This happened in Fargo in 2008:

Date: 2008-01-03
Submitted By: WWAN
Place: warehouse roof in Fargo, ND
State: ND
Country: USA
Fatalities: 1
Summary: 1 roof shoveler, caught, buried, and killed

***Initial Report***

A roof avalanche that killed a shoveler in Fargo, ND on Jan 3, 2008.

He was a 19yo man who had been shoveling snow off a warehouse roof.

The man was buried for about 30 minutes.

iseedit

Posted 12/27/2010 22:20 (#1510310 - in reply to #1509441)
Subject: RE: This is easiest and safest ~

central - east central Minnesota -

smoorman - 12/27/2010 14:17 3 foot of snow on roof...buildings going down in neighborhood... Should i but heat in bldg? block up trussed? Am going to try and get help to pull snow off....

Heat ~ http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/bfs/2122223446.html
Not a bad price and should make short work of the project . . .

(600,000 btu's.jpg)

Attachments
----------------
600,000 btu's.jpg (7KB - 77 downloads)

IowaMark

Posted 12/27/2010 22:23 (#1510315 - in reply to #1510055)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

NW Iowa. / SW Arizona

Doug my insurance carrier is State Farm & they put snow coverage on my 13 & 15 year old hog confinements last spring after the snow melted off. They wanted me to wait until May 1st before coverage could go into effect. As soon as snow was all gone (I don't remember when this was for sure) I told my agent to come get take the picture & if they didn't want to cover them I was switching companies. He came & took them & they covered them before the May 1st when they wanted. Insurance companies can really #iss you off sometimes. oldbones

Posted 12/29/2010 19:54 (#1513971 - in reply to #1510315)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP!

Floyd County, Iowa

I'll be calling him (agent) tomorrow.
Thanks! Ron (Cen. IL.)

Posted 2/20/2019 11:28 (#7332693 - in reply to #1509966)
Subject: Re: MACHINE SHED ROOF SNOWLOAD...HELP! (PICS)

Central Illinois

Bumping to the top. bpreuss

Posted 2/20/2019 13:09 (#7332881 - in reply to #1510310)
Subject: RE: This is easiest and safest ~

+1 we rented a huge knipco heater a few years ago when we had 2-3' of snow on the Morton shed roof. Tipped it back a little, shut the doors and fired it up. Snow started coming off the roof in 20 minutes and in 2 hours it was completely clear. Just make sure you stand back so you don't get hit. Lots of guys were shoveling, scratching their roof, getting caught on screw/nail heads, breaking skylights etc. I think the rent was like $150 for the day. Pretty simple and safe.