I wrote an article about raking
snow off your roof here:
How to
Rake Snow Off Your Roof
Once in a while, someone writes
to me and asks a question.Here's
a question I got via email today:
Hello.
I just had old steel gutters
replaced with aluminum ones
because the originals collected
ice and fell off the house.
Will raking my roof harm the new
gutters (cause more snow and
ice to build up inside)?
Sent from my iPhone
I'm not an expert on roof raking.
I'm just a regular guy who rakes
his own roof.
We had the same problem with ice
build-up on our gutters. So we
got rid of the gutters and no longer
have them.
I would think that raking the snow
would help with ice buildup in the
gutters. Generally speaking, the
source of the ice is snow that is
melting and flowing into the gutters
and then freezing.
That's my experience. It is the
heat from the house that causes
the snow to melt but then it
re-freezes when it hits the gutters.
This is because the gutters are not
influenced by the heat coming from
the house to the same degree to which
the snow directly above the house is
influenced by the heat rising up from
below.
In other words, snow melts faster
directly above the house than it does
in the gutters. Therefore, it is when
the temperature falls below 32 degrees
Fahrenheit that melting snow is a problem.
It's really the same ice dam problem
all over again but with gutters there
to make the problem even worse.
This past spring, my first cousin, who
is a general contractor, worked on our
house to help fix our problems.He and his
three sons blew lots of extra insulation
into our attic. He did this to keep the
heat from rising and melting the snow on
the roof. Also, the insulation helps to
keep our heating bills down.
So far, it seems to have worked. The
icicles on the side of the roof are much
smaller this year.
I realize I did not really answer your
question. Should you rake your roof if
you have gutters? Will snow raking
fill your gutters with ice and snow?
I don't have enough expertise to answer
your question accurately. However, a good
general answer might be that it cannot hurt
to rake the top layer of snow off your roof
if you have a lot of snow up there.
If you choose to rake your roof all the way
down to the shingles, be aware that this does
take some of the shingle material off as well.
That's my experience.
For this reason, I don't like to rake the first
layer of snow off the roof. I like to leave at
least one snow-storm layer up there.
If as winter rolls on, the snow builds up, I
only remove the top layers. I do it this way
to avoid damaging the roof by raking the
shingles directly.
When we did have gutters, I used to rake
the snow into the gutters and then out
of the gutters, if you know what I mean.
However, the real problem with gutters is not
snow raking but just the fact that snow turns
to water which turns to ice which accumulates
in your gutters. The only solution to this
problem I know of is to not have gutters.
To summarize, snow raking, in general, does
not cause ice and snow to build up in gutters.
Rather, it helps alleviate the problem.
Yes, you get a little snow in your gutters
when you rake the roof. However, the gutters
are not going to be free of snow and ice if
you do not rake your roof.
It's wintertime. Snow and ice accumulate in
your gutters regardless of whether you rake
the snow in there or not.
Hope this helps.
Ed Abbott
