Roof Snow Load Failures

Whether or not that failure was the result of an inadequate design.

Roof snow load failures.

Roof failures due to snow can result in damage or destruction of valuable building contents and equipment business interruption and even loss of life. From 1994 to 2013 winter storms resulted in about 27 billion in u s. In my humble opinion these would include. If the standards for mississippi where the maximum expected snow load is much lower are used in error problems ranging from deflection to full collapse can occur.

Snow load is the downward force on a building s roof by the weight of accumulated snow and ice. Is more prone to failure. Every time a post frame building roof collapses it reflects poorly upon our industry. When prefabricated wood roof trusses fail truss manufacturers get blamed.

It doesn t take a blizzard to cause problems. Our experienced forensic experts can help to determine. Abstract collapses of a number of roofs in europe during the winter 2005 2006 initiated discussions concerning reliability of the roofs exposed to snow loads. If the roof failure was caused by an excessive snow load ie exceeding design load.

Further if it was caused by an. Or if the building was poorly designed or constructed. Presented overview of extensive. A roof not designed to the appropriate standards for its use location etc.

While it is impractical unaffordable or unfeasible to retrofit existing buildings to meet code loading requirements we can make changes to minimize or eliminate future failures due to snow. For example a roof in minnesota must be able to accommodate the large live loads associated with the state s heavy snowfalls. Insured catastrophe losses in 2013 dollars or more than 1 billion a year on average according to property claim services and the insurance information institute inc. Together these two industries can lobby for changes ultimately making for better and safer buildings.

An imbalance of drifting snow can cause one part of a roof to give causing a domino effect.