Snow stops

[Sumboodie]

Metal roofing guy came by to fix some vent pipes that were torn down and highly suggested I put snow stops.

He doesn't do they, so no vested interest.

Said roof shows alot of crinkling which is from the force of snow (ice) letting go in spring pushing against the roof.

I had felt letting it slide was good, as I'm not sure how much the roof can handle and being about 15ft up and ~4/12 pitch not something I want to shovel.

Thoughts?

He is saying he'd do the bars, 4 rows. Roof is 42ft long, so would be ~2kish.

Already dropped $1k to repair damage to vent pipes i had installed when I bought the place. Orginal owner had just vented the apartment into the shop (yeah, not kidding) and condition if sale was vented correctly.
Well somehow correctly was vented into the attic.

I paid after discovery of this to put the pipes through the roof.

First winter the lower pipe tore down. 2nd year, added acricket to the lower pipe. It ended up destroyed and both pipes ripped down.
Finally got someone to take on the work, been calling people since spring.
Going to put the vents through the back wall, regret not doing that to begin with.

 

[readhead]

I typically suggest that the vent pipes be installed 7” down from the ridge. That way the metal ridge cap will cover the top of the pipe flashing and also there is very little snow pressure to damage the pipes.

Have you come up with a plan to manage the snow problem? A few things that often get overlooked are pitch breaks where snow will back up, long eaves where snow can freeze and stop snow from sliding and lean to’s that freeze and keep snow from sliding.

 

[Sumboodie]

I typically suggest that the vent pipes be installed 7” down from the ridge. That way the metal ridge cap will cover the top of the pipe flashing and also there is very little snow pressure to damage the pipes.

Have you come up with a plan to manage the snow problem? A few things that often get overlooked are pitch breaks where snow will back up, long eaves where snow can freeze and stop snow from sliding and lean to’s that freeze and keep snow from sliding.

There's no ridge, but the upper pipe is maybe 3ft from the edge and it still ripped down.

The snow stops is what I'm asking about that would manage the snow from busting up the metal.

 

[readhead]

Snow bars are quite a bit more substantial for the amount of snow you are experiencing. Usually two or three bars high and at least two rows. They work under the same theory as snow stops but are more heavy duty. I have fabricated and installed bars at the local ski area and I understand that commercially made bars are available.

 

[PopcornSutton]

In VA we don't have the snow as the OP, but bars are the norm for standing seam roves. Usually only one bar is used to stop the snow from ripping the gutters off. We never had the issue of tearing off vent pipes.

 

[jack stand]

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Poke around on their website for online articles. There's many manufacturers and stores about snow retension (in their monthly magazine).
There's important guidelines to follow for proper performance in your snow conditions so it works and doesn't end up in your lawn in a snowbank. This system would be recommended by the manufacturer.
I've had the little stainless steel snowbirds tear out leaving holes in the roof, repaired and doubled the amount of them and portions of them have been ripped out!
Get some solid advice and do it once.
There are pipe supports that brace vents up slope just for this purpose that should be much less expensive even if you need to pull a couple of panels to add sturdy support to attach these to. I don't know if this is a plumbing or roofing product to source it.

 

[Sumboodie]

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Poke around on their website for online articles. There's many manufacturers and stores about snow retension (in their monthly magazine).
There's important guidelines to follow for proper performance in your snow conditions so it works and doesn't end up in your lawn in a snowbank. This system would be recommended by the manufacturer.
I've had the little stainless steel snowbirds tear out leaving holes in the roof, repaired and doubled the amount of them and portions of them have been ripped out!
Get some solid advice and do it once.
There are pipe supports that brace vents up slope just for this purpose that should be much less expensive even if you need to pull a couple of panels to add sturdy support to attach these to. I don't know if this is a plumbing or roofing product to source it.

The vents are sorted out with rear wall exit. It actually works out better as the pipes were going to be in the way upstairs. I'm able to run them in the floor and out the wall, maybe horizontal distance of 8ft or so. Outside ill do a 90 and go up the wall a few feet, per code supposed to be at least 10ft from the ground.

I didn't like snow coming down as it's pretty violent and also can't put anything within ~30ft from the building.
My bulk fuel tank even got partially buried. Was enough force the ~8000lb 5k forklift parked next to the tank was tilted over.

 

[tarmy]

When I had my garage built 20 plus years ago I had the heater pipes (first pic) protected with splitters and they have worked great in heavy snow buildup. I have two bathroom 2” ABS vent pipes that worked good for about 20 years…then we had some record snow and they both got sheared off. I added splitters for them after that. They were about 40 bucks each and took about an hour each to fix the busted off pipe and properly secure (second pic). We had another heavy snow load this year and no issue.

 

[Sumboodie]

When I had my garage built 20 plus years ago I had the heater pipes (first pic) protected with splitters and they have worked great in heavy snow buildup. I have two bathroom 2” ABS vent pipes that worked good for about 20 years…then we had some record snow and they both got sheared off. I added splitters for them after that. They were about 40 bucks each and took about an hour each to fix the busted off pipe and properly secure (second pic). We had another heavy snow load this year and no issue.

Yup, that's what I had and it didn't work out. Snow sliding is too strong i guess.

See the dents in the roof, that's from sliding snow too I guess. I assumed it was from walking on it. Roofing guy called it "crinkles"

 

[Sumboodie]

Reason against snow stops is the weight on the roof.

Like last winter we got about 10ft, so had a solid 4-5ft built up that slid off once it warmed up and rained.

 

[tarmy]

Yup, that's what I had and it didn't work out. Snow sliding is too strong i guess.

See the dents in the roof, that's from sliding snow too I guess. I assumed it was from walking on it. Roofing guy called it "crinkles"

That guy didn’t use the proper protector. That looks like a simple thin piece of roofing material bent into a splitter. The one I bought is fairly think material and has a bottom piece as well to stiffen the hell outa it. It has a large flat bottom that extends out to securely fasten it. It would take some fab work to get the bottom to fit well over the ridges in your roof but could be done. That thing you are showing stood no chance against real snow movement. Zoom in on that pic I posted and you can see the fins where you shove it down over the pipe. It also covers it to help the snow sluff over it…

 

[Sumboodie]

That guy didn’t use the proper protector. That looks like a simple thin piece of roofing material bent into a splitter. The one I bought is fairly think material and has a bottom piece as well to stiffen the hell outa it. It has a large flat bottom that extends out to securely fasten it. It would take some fab work to get the bottom to fit well over the ridges in your roof but could be done. That thing you are showing stood no chance against real snow movement. Zoom in on that pic I posted and you can see the fins where you shove it down over the pipe. It also covers it to help the snow sluff over it…

It came from the metal roof company, it's what they sell as crickets, and have been for many years.

It's 18 or 20 gauge I think. It's missing a piece that was ripped off.

 

[Sumboodie]

Well had the roof patched, and ends up I'm going to need a roof soon.

It’s only 29 gauge with 24" purlins so not holding up. Also wasn't screwed correctly in places.

Standing seam 24 gauge will be about 8k

 

[gtae07]

I hope I'm not the only one who had no idea wtf a snow stop was... thanks for the pics, I learned something today

 

[Sumboodie]

When I had my garage built 20 plus years ago I had the heater pipes (first pic) protected with splitters and they have worked great in heavy snow buildup. I have two bathroom 2” ABS vent pipes that worked good for about 20 years…then we had some record snow and they both got sheared off. I added splitters for them after that. They were about 40 bucks each and took about an hour each to fix the busted off pipe and properly secure (second pic). We had another heavy snow load this year and no issue.

I have a Goldilocks pitch where it's not steep enough to regularly shed the snow, but too steep to easily shovel.
Routing the vent through the wall will work better, least I think.

 

[reader2580]

Standing seam 24 gauge will be about 8k

That seems like a pretty good price for Alaska. I am in the Minneapolis area, and I can't even get a shingle roof on my 18 square roof for that price. My roof is just two flat planes with no valleys, hips, dormers, or anything like that. The price I got was almost $11k. (I did the roof myself.)

 

[Sumboodie]

That seems like a pretty good price for Alaska. I am in the Minneapolis area, and I can't even get a shingle roof on my 18 square roof for that price. My roof is just two flat planes with no valleys, hips, dormers, or anything like that. The price I got was almost $11k. (I did the roof myself.)

If I did shingle, I'd be at around 5k. That's including sheathing.

About 15 sq roof.

 

[djbmw]

My shop also has a metal roof and we get massive amounts of snow here in Ottawa. I tried snow feet/snow stops and out of the several hundred used, most broke under the snow load (which is a scary thought of how much weight is being held there):

Stupid (broken) Snow Feet:


Instead, I fabricated snow dividers for the chimney and power pole. These work 10000%








I had to also add additional blocking in the attic/under the roof to mount the dividers to. That was likely the trickiest part as the hydro pole was closer to the bottom of the roof line (the corner of the roof 'triangle' so to speak), and sliding my body into such a tight space to nail in bracing really sucked.

Anyway, PROPERLY built and installed snow dividers are the way to go.

 

[Sumboodie]

My shop also has a metal roof and we get massive amounts of snow here in Ottawa. I tried snow feet/snow stops and out of the several hundred used, most broke under the snow load (which is a scary thought of how much weight is being held there):

Stupid (broken) Snow Feet:


Instead, I fabricated snow dividers for the chimney and power pole. These work 10000%








I had to also add additional blocking in the attic/under the roof to mount the dividers to. That was likely the trickiest part as the hydro pole was closer to the bottom of the roof line (the corner of the roof 'triangle' so to speak), and sliding my body into such a tight space to nail in bracing really sucked.

Anyway, PROPERLY built and installed snow dividers are the way to go.

I bet that roof leaks, haven't seen nails used since the 80s.

The vent pipes going out theback wall will work out better as they were both in the way upstairs. Now they'll run in the ceiling.

 

[djbmw]

I bet that roof leaks, haven't seen nails used since the 80s.

The vent pipes going out theback wall will work out better as they were both in the way upstairs. Now they'll run in the ceiling.

It was built in 1976 I believe. Occasionally a nail will pop and I replace it with a roofing screw with rubber washer. During the time it pops to the time i find it a small leak does form but whatever water does drip into the attic space dries up before it does any damage.

5 foot high snow mounds melting on the ground and leaking in past the footer/base plate is the real challenge!

 

[Sumboodie]

It was built in 1976 I believe. Occasionally a nail will pop and I replace it with a roofing screw with rubber washer. During the time it pops to the time i find it a small leak does form but whatever water does drip into the attic space dries up before it does any damage.

5 foot high snow mounds melting on the ground and leaking in past the footer/base plate is the real challenge!

Why I'm strongly looking at the seam standing vs old fashioned screwed.
About 8k in materials