Roof Pitch For Snow Shedding

Slopes greater than 6 12 will tend to shed snow regardless of the texture of the material on them so roof slopes should be configured to avoid shedding anywhere people might be walking or exiting.

Roof pitch for snow shedding.

Pitched roofs are attractive and also can be used for additional space for a shed loft. 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. The picture below shows the pitch of a 7 12 roof slope meaning that for 12 of horizontal measurement roof run the vertical measurement roof rise is 7. Having a steeper pitched roof allows for more space in a shed loft.

This is a great starting point towards understanding if your roof type can handle the weather in your area. Panel angle for snow shedding i don t live in the snow belt so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. This image shows a relatively shallow roof pitch of 15 degrees. On roof slopes approaching 45 degrees 12 12 snow is very likely to slide and snow guards should be considered in areas where it is necessary to control snow slides.

Understand that the snow in one area is very different from snow in another area. This measurement is best done on a bare roof because curled up roofing shingles will impair your measurement. Steeper roof pitches are better at shedding rain and snow and are used more frequently in wetter colder areas 2. There are some standing seam metal roofing options available from atas and other manufacturers that can be installed on a roof with pitch of 1 12.

First there is the question of where the snow will self clear too mounted high enough to slide off to ground room to move snow from in front of array if you have enough snow to build up in your area. You could also opt for a pvc flat roofing membrane. Using the snow load calculator i linked above type in the data regarding your shed and roof size. In the video above i explain the importance of roof pitch when it comes to snow.

I have already begun the research to build a pole barn. The higher the roof pitch the more often the snow slides off. So in general the shallower pitch can be more dangerous with bigger slides. I also share a little about why we did not build an earthship as we had planned because of the climate here.