This has been quite the winter to be a first-time homeowner.  We have received far more than average snowfall and we’ve spent more than 45 days below zero.  That means all of the snow on the roof hasn’t had any chance to melt. I was starting to get worried about all of the weight of the snow on the roof, and if we do start to get warmer days (fingers crossed), all that heavy snow will act as insulation making ice dams unavoidable.

About a month ago, we spotted an issue with our skylight.  It appears that snow built up above the window, letting a pocket of ice form.  That water dripped through the flashing at the base of the window and left a stain on our dining room ceiling.

The water came down the ceiling and started dripping from the top of the sliding door frame:

My first course of action was to throw down pans and towels to absorb the water, which our cat Robert thought was for him:

I was by myself so didn’t take any pictures clearing the snow, but I can tell you I used an extension ladder and gravel rake to pull down the snow and ice chunks from the bottom of the skylight.  This made all of the remaining water freeze, solving the problem temporarily.  I knew that I’d have to find a more permanent solution later in the winter, but with several nights of -23 degree weather in the forecast, I figured this would work for the time being.

Several weeks later, I was telling one of my good friends, Eric Dorr, about the fiasco.  He told me that his father-in-law bought him a roof rake and that it worked great at clearing the snow before it gets a chance to freeze.  The catalyst that ultimately got me to go out and buy one is our most recent storm, where the Twin Cities (and much of South Eastern MN) got about a foot of snow or more (the most so far this season).  Just to further emphasize the gravity of this storm, statewide on Minnesota roads, troopers responded to 964 crashes, 2342 vehicles off the road, 74 jacknifes and 4414 calls for service. So here’s what I purchased:

I felt fortunate to find a roof rake at the very first store I visited, our local Ace Hardware.  I usually go to Menards or Home Depot first, thinking I’ll save money, but I knew that those bigger stores had already switched over to spring merchandise. The assembly was pretty easy, even though instructions were not included.

Rule 1 when pulling hundreds of pounds of snow towards yourself: Cover your face!

The pole is currently 16′ in length.  I bought an additional pole that lets me get to 21′.

It was great not having to use a ladder, but my arms were pretty exhausted by the end.

You can see on the bottom of the rake, there are small black rollers.  These let the aluminum blade move down the roof without damaging the shingles. About an hour later, this is what the roof looks like:

I was able to clear off all of the fresh snow, and cut in to about three feet of what I’ll call the “permafrost.”  I used my Ariens snowblower to clear the snow after it fell to the ground.  I did the same on the back of the house:

I’m hopeful this will keep additional ice dams from forming on the roof, because this is February, and I’m told March is Minnesota’s snowiest month (how is that even possible?!).

-Mike