Cleaning Snow from Flat Roof
How much snow can a flat roof of a average 100y/o brownstone support? In Nagano people die every year when accumulated on the roof snow crashes their houses with people inside. Is it something I should worry about in Brooklyn?
How much snow can a flat roof of a average 100y/o brownstone support? In Nagano people die every year when accumulated on the roof snow crashes their houses with people inside.
Is it something I should worry about in Brooklyn?
So 40lb (20Kg) of snow per 1sq-ft (1000sq cm) is 20cm of water or 160cm of snow (60″ of snow). I guess, I do not need to worry about it.
thanks for response
Not likely at all, unless there are already serious structural defects in the roof. Or perhaps if the roof were drastically overloaded already, so I guess never say never. But snow itself wouldn’t be a problem.
I saw a news report of a roof collapse two days ago in Maryland, but it was a metal cantilevered gas station roof. Most Brooklyn townhouses are about 20′-24′ or so between masonry walls, spanned by old pine or larch that’s strong enough to hold 40 or so lbs a square foot as Ed mentions above, far more than the live load of snow. And that load is not to failure, it’s to the point where the ceiling will begin to sag and plaster crack. Even if the ceiling were to start to fail at a certain point, the joists aren’t tied together in a way that would create a failure in the other joists.
Dealt with Sheldon before. His office can be reached as follows:
Pulaski and Sirota
3408 Avenue N
Brokklyn, NY 11234
718 253-7366
The building code delineates the required design live and dead loads based upon the building construction and its occupancy group. A structural engineer, such as Shelly Pulaski, PE in Brooklyn, would be able to tell you whether your structure is appropriate.
Ed Kopel Architects.
Its already turning to rain. Fuggedaboutit.
8 inches of snow is equivalent to one inch of rain. We’ve had upwards of 24 inches in recent memory & roofs have withstood it.
I guess there must be a limit, but our houses have withstood many blizzards since they were built without collapsing. In any case, the present “storm of the century” isn’t likely to be a very big deal, despite the hype by media and a certain billionaire amateur politician 🙂
No.
How much snow can a flat roof of a average 100y/o brownstone support?
All of it.