Suggested Snow Roof Degree

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

Suggested snow roof degree. The 30 degree 7 12 roof recommendation is backed up by testing according to the publication science daily. Determining the roof pitch for your weather the first thing to do is to check the building codes for your county and state. A 30 degree roof slope 7 12 pitch is the right pitch to aerodynamically handle high wind. A reputable roofing contractor will be familiar with the pitch required by these codes.

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. In snowy areas your roof should be at least 10 12 40 to allow snow to shed while the safest roof pitch in very windy areas is between 4 12 6 12 18 5 26 5. The pitch of the roof is determined by the vertical rise. 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.

S equals the depth in inches of the snow on your roof and p represents the pounds per square foot your roof is supporting. Your equation for determining snow load s x 1 25 p is fairly straightforward math. According to this code the minimum slope for asphalt shingles is 17 degrees or two vertical units to twelve units in the horizontal. Pitch is a measure of the steepness of a roof.

The requirements for an asphalt shingles roof are contained in the international building code. On roof slopes between 4 12 and 6 12 rough textured roofing materials work best. Lower slopes don t handle wind driven rain as well. At these slopes snow creeps rather than slides and is easy to manage.

Slate is also a popular material in this climate zone. Steeper slopes increase the sail effect that makes them susceptible to wind. In country with heavy snow and tough winter days the metal roof minimum slope is recommended to be 1 12.