We're supposed to be getting more
snow on top of the 16-inch-plus
accumulation from the the last
two storms.
I've hired my snow plower to rake
the snow off my roof. He can't
come until Friday, a day after the
next snowfall. He says he's heard
it's best to just remove the first
3 feet, but will do it all if I want.
My gutter looks like a solid block of
ice and I'm also concerned about
what this might mean for the roof. So,
is 3 feet enough to rake off the roof?
Could the ice-filled gutter signify other
trouble and, if so, what do you
recommend?
Hiring your snow plow guy is a good
idea, in my opinion. Since you already
know him, you are less likely to be
taken advantage of. Since he works for
you on a regular basis, he will probably
be fair with you.
One thing that I do not like to do is
hire people who knock on my door after
a snow storm. These people tend to
cruise the neighborhood after a snow
storm looking for work. My experience
is that these people do the worst job,
but charge the most money. When possible,
I hire someone I know rather than a
complete stranger. It makes sense.
Your snow plower's advice about not
removing all the snow on the roof
sounds good to me. This is another
reason why he is probably a good person
to hire. It sounds like he is honest.
A few years back, my brother was sick
with cancer and I was his primary care-giver.
I was too busy caring for my brother to
bother with the roof myself. Under these
circumstances, I hired a roofing contractor
unknown to me to shovel snow off the roof.
He shoveled a huge pile of snow on to
our walkway after we had agreed on a
price. This huge pile of snow totally
blocked access to our oil tank. The
fill pipe for the oil tank was behind
the pile of snow and the pile of snow
was right next to the house.
I had to talk him into agreeing
that clearing a narrow walkway through
this pile of snow, which was about eight
feet high, was part of the job. The
price we had agreed on for the total job
was a hefty one.
For his hefty price, he only did
about 1/4 of the surface area of
the roof. He shoveled to the
shingles and in the spring, after
the snow had melted, I found a fair
amount of shingle material on the ground.
In many ways, he was a nice guy. The
bottom line, though, was you had to
think of everything yourself and ask
for everything yourself. If you didn't
think of it, he did not do it and it
was not part of the job. I do not like
to hire people who act like that.
I've had other disappointing experiences
when hiring people off the street. I've
come to believe that many of these people
do as little work as possible for as much
money as possible. It is to the point
now where anytime someone knocks on our
door asking for work, the answer is always,
no.
I've noticed an interesting thing: So
often, the best people spend the least
amount of time looking for work. Of
course this is not always true. However,
I've often found that when someone is
really good, they have more work than
they can handle, and are unable to take
on more.
I'm taking the long way around to answer
your question. It sounds like the guy
who does work for you does good work. It
would probably be easier for him to
shovel right to the shingles in that it
requires less thought and care on his part.
However, ice and snow tends to adhere to
shingles. If you shovel all the way to
the shingles, you can't help but remove
some of the shingling material. That's
just the way it is.
You mention that you have an ice-filled
gutter. In my experience, this could
signal the potential for ice dams, depending
on how much ice there is and how far back up
the roof the ice goes.
I write about gutters and ice dams here:
Preventing Ice Dams
Note that I'm really not an expert on roofs
or ice dams. I'm just a regular guy who
takes care of his own roof and does the best
he can.
Ed Abbott
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