How To Keep Snow Off Your Roof By Altering The Rise And Run

12 January 2015

Jason Hunt

The rise and run of your roof is the way in which the roof rises to a point and runs across on a horizontal plan. The slope is the degree of the angle created by the rise and run. Since all houses are not created with exactly the same kind of roof, some houses will have more trouble with snow and ice dams. If you are a homeowner experiencing this very problem, you could benefit from the services of a roofing contractor and have almost no snow or ice on your roof next winter.

Starting With an Expansion of Your Attic or Second Floor

The shape of your roof will be dramatically altered. If you currently have a low, somewhat flat roof, it is about to get very angular. In order for a roofing contractor and his or her crew to get the roof to point, you may have an expansion of the space in your attic or second floor. Although that may leave you feeling a little tentative about your decision, it ends up being a secondary benefit to the rise and run roof project. Your rooms will feel bigger and have just a little more room to spread out, or your attic will have more nooks and crannies to store personal belongings.

Continuing With the Alterations of the Roof

When you first explain to your roofing contractor what your intentions are and why you want to alter the rise and run of your roof, he or she will calculate the changes in degrees necessary to get your desired results. What that means is the contractor will figure out how high and how peaked your roof needs to be for snow and ice to slip down and off the sides. This means you will eventually have roof peaks that have one-hundred-degree or less angles at the peaks. Any degree amount over one hundred makes your roof more flat, while under one hundred creates a more peaked roof.

Finally, Using Roofing Materials That Aid With Snow Removal

Because you are completely rebuilding your roof, you should consider newer roofing materials that aid in the removal of snow and ice. A black metal roof heats quickly under a winter sun, sending any snow and ice that manages to stick to its slippery slopes right off the sides of your house. Using rubber under-roofing also helps melt the snow as it hits the black metal roof because it is a better insulator than roofing felt. When you combine new roofing materials with the rise and run reconstruction of your roof, you should have very little snow and ice to contend with in coming years.

For more information about roofing, check out companies such as A-1 Professional Roofing. 

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