Snow fell off roof damaging guttering. How to stop happening again.

madrhino

Hello

I'm asking this on behalf of my mum. I'll try and give all the relevant details but if I miss anything please ask.

In 2009 my mum had a new roof, it is spanish slate and was done under an improvement grant from the council which will be paid off when she sells the house (not thinking of doing that in near future).

In 2010 there was heavy snowfall and a lot of snow slid off the roof damaging the guttering, which she fixed.

We had heavy snow on boxing day 2014 overnight and over the next few days heavy snow slid off front, side and back (semi-detached), damaging the guttering on front and back.

She has contacted the original builder who did the roof. He is going to fix the guttering under the insurance and put a snow guard on the back. The roof is extremely well insulated, and she suggested removing some of he insulation so the heat from the house could help melt the snow, but his response was that she doesn't really want to do that.

She lives in a suburban area where a lot of the houses are similar to hers, and as far as she's aware this hasn't happened to other houses (she could see if the snow had come off in clumps)


The problem is that she doesn't want this to happen again in the future, she wants to find a solution. And not feel stressed and worried when it snow. The snowfall is also dangerous as most of the roof's snow falls off in one go. The side snow fell off onto the neighbours drive. If someone was underneath when it fell it coud seriously hurt someone.

The builder has a reputable company, trading 40 years and he can't think of a solution to the problem apart from putting a snow guard on one side. Can anyone here offer any suggestion?

The roof is under guarantee but the guttering isn't included in that.

Should she go to the council who gave her the grant?

Should she do the work and have the guttering put back up + snowguard under insurance, but will this happen again?

She has a feeling the roof may be too well insulated, what do people think?

Thank you for reading and any help will be much appreciated

phill99

Why would the council be responsible for the snow falling off the roof? They gave a grant. They didn't put the roof on.

Not sue the insurers will pay for a snow guard.

Removing insulation defeats the object of having insulation.

Maybe just paying for a snow guatd is the hedt solution.

andyhop

What type of guttering has been used?

You may need to use cast alloy/iron with stronger brackets

WobblyDog

How far out from the roof tiles does the guttering project? If it sticks out a lot, could it be moved further under the tiles so that the snow doesn't catch on it so much?

Most guttering I've seen is mostly tucked under the tiles, with only a bit sticking out to catch the water.

madrhino

WobblyDog wrote: »

How far out from the roof tiles does the guttering project? If it sticks out a lot, could it be moved further under the tiles so that the snow doesn't catch on it so much?

Most guttering I've seen is mostly tucked under the tiles, with only a bit sticking out to catch the water.

My mum says thanks for this. She's going to talk to the builder and see if this is possible

Kernel_Sanders

Could the guttering not be lowered so that the angle of the avalanche clears the outer lip?