The photo below is a shot of what happens when you get a LOT of snow on the roof. If you enlarge it, you can see the shoveller working away in front of the chimney stack.
We designed and built the house we now live in and, because we were middle-aged and not very agile, we built it with a roof with a low pitch. We also built it with a ‘great room’ that has a pitched ceiling supported by a ‘gluelam’ beam, that being a beam made of boards glued and laminated together. The combination of this beam and the low pitch means that if there is a lot of snow built up on the roof, there is a lot of weight up there and it is all resting on the beam. The thought of this weight keeps the designer awake at night, wondering if the beam is strong enough. And so, if we get a dump of snow, we shovel the roof..
JG used to shovel it himself. He harnessed himself to
the chimney and threw the snow off according to a plan that did not whump the
bushes in the front, or bury the back porch. Once the roof was shovelled, the deck
had to be cleared. Normally it was waist deep in compacted snow and took as much
effort as the roof clearing. Luckily we have a young neighbour with muscles and
some spare time and we have hired him in latter years. The one occasion on
which we hired workmen from a local business, we ended up needing to get the
roof reshingled. Not what is wanted on a regular basis. So we hope the
neighbour is free.
And so, after the foot or so of lovely white fluff (not) that we got this weekend, JG got on the phone to see if a shoveller was available. After some angst, we think he is due to clean us off tomorrow. The YD has volunteered to help if he can’t get a partner. She and her sister both live in the inner city, in houses with minimal front yards and narrow streets. She will have been shovelling quite a bit already, just to find her car and clear the drive. Her sister and partner decided, the last I was informed, to wait until it was ‘all down’; they may be looking for their driveway for some time. Some years ago, the ED sent us this record of what they had to do to clear the car for exit.
You need a strong back or strong helpers to live around here sometimes.
A strong back is what I lack. I get in difficulty very quickly, I am sad to say. Good luck with the roof.
ReplyDeleteAC, me too. In fact, all I am able to do is sweep, and that in small increments. Very frustrating, as I recall being a strong and fast shoveller. Ah well. Re roof; I will report progress.
DeleteAh, yes. Rick used to go shovel off roofs frequently in his youth. Those days are well past.
ReplyDeleteWe got a snow dump here, but just about 5 inches. Still, I am outraged and heartbroken. And now we are seeing high temperatures in the teens (F) only for the next several days (and that F can stand for Fahrenheit AND the classic curse word, both).
Let us show stout hearts and shame the weather. After all, what choice do we have?
Give it hot looks? I wish we had only had 5 inches. I think we got 14. Yeah, the f word, very suitable. Luckily the wonderful neighbour who does my heavy cleaning came sailing in yesterday morning, right on time. In her four wheel drive truck. She said that the only other tracks on our road were animal tracks. And she thought that was funny. It was - 30 C last night. At least yours may melt.
DeleteI had not thought of how difficult this is. It has to be cleared of course. But tricky!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Where it is thrown off the roof is tricky as well.
DeleteYou sure do. Shovelling is a hateful job but somebody has to do it.
ReplyDeleteSorry, this got messed up. Thank goodness for good neigbours. We have our shoveller here now.
DeleteSnow is really heavy as you know, so I decided to shovel my deck which was loaded with snow ... just in case.... but I fell over and had to crawl on hands and knees back to the house.... I think my shovelling days are over!
ReplyDeleteI know mine are. Neighbours, daughter cleared us this time. Other than that, it is spring or wade through it. We got 14" on Sunday. However, it is very pretty. A small consolation.
ReplyDeleteCan you put heat on your back? And stay away from shovels!!!
Tbat is hard work for sure! We have shoveled ours off in the past, when we had a 2 foot storm, but thankfully we were younger then. I am glad you found someone to do this for you.
ReplyDeleteJG and the daughters used to do it. I have photos of the elder daughter roped to the chimney. But not any more! We are very lucky to have local help. Paid help, but generous and careful. We hired a contractor once and ended up having to put new shingles on the roof. Sheesh.
DeleteThankfully, we had few snow storms in VA which would have necessitated roof shoveling. Even though we would get more snow, when we lived in NJ, the rooftops were never shoveled. It would have been a difficult task for my parents 2-story home. You did have quite a lot of snow, Mary, which I do know is a vast understatement.
ReplyDeleteWe do get a few heavy falls most winters. If we are lucky we get wind or thaw in between and the pile on the roof does not get too heavy. But some years it just gets deeper and heavier until we have to have it removed. Likewise, when it does slide off the roof, it buries access to our garage through the side door and that has to be dug out. Ah, the joys of winter.
DeleteI hope you got shovelled. My son and 17 yr old grandson were on the roof of their house shovelling. Actually 17 yr old was doing the shovelling, son was taking pictures. Snow was about 20" deep.
ReplyDeleteLaughing about the pictures. I do my recording from ground level, thanks. The grandson working is also a fine thing; we have a neighbour who employs his grandboys to move logs. When he can lure them into visiting. He feeds them well.
ReplyDeleteOH my gosh! That is scary as heck. I'm glad I no longer have to shovel snow but we have other problems even here in the islands.
ReplyDelete