Snow Roof Degree

It is not uncommon in our area to have several feet of snow on a roof in the winter.

Snow roof degree.

First convert the pitch to a slope. How to convert roof pitch to degrees. Lower slopes don t handle wind driven rain as well. A 30 degree roof slope 7 12 pitch is the right pitch to aerodynamically handle high wind.

If you live in the us our snow load calculator compares the total weight on your roof with the permissible load calculated according to the standards issued by the american society of civil engineers regarding the minimum design loads for buildings and other structures asce7 16. Rise run rise run slope. To do this simply convert the rise and run as a fraction to a decimal form eg. The minimum roof pitch for shedding snow is around 30 or a 6 12 or 7 12 slope although this is not a definite as the material of your roof the direction of the snow and wind are some factors that can affect whether or not snow will slide as roofs of as little as 10 have been reported to shed snow.

Besides being able to support the weight of all that snow a roof needs to be designed to avoid ice dams sliding snow excessive icicle formation and drainage onto high traffic areas. The 30 degree 7 12 roof recommendation is backed up by testing according to the publication science daily. And although asphalt shingles are the easiest to damage among the roofing materials they are another good option for snow as long as your climate isn t too windy. Slate is also a popular material in this climate zone.

Building a roof with wood shakes works well in moist colder climates as they don t dry out from the snow.