Snow shovelling—the Stonehead way

[Stonehead]

Not only is the snow up to my armpits at ground level, but it was 24in (60cm) deep on the roof of the kitchen extension. The weight had depressed the centre of the roof by an inch and a quarter (3cm). Time to do a bit more snow shovelling...







Do the centre first, by the way. If you do the outside edges, there's a good chance the weight left in the centre will take the roof down. And don't work close to the snow or your extra weight may take the roof down. And it can be a tad unnerving to feel and hear the roof popping back upwards!

It was a warm -9C, so I was able to skip the jacket and hat!

[oldfella]

And I thought we had problems, rather you than me mate,

[gdb]

And thats a four storey house!!!!

[Stonehead]

A cattle shed collapsed at Glass, injuring a farmer. I believe some cattle died. It's not far from us.

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/Article ... 1?UserKey=

http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Dung-saves- ... 5965822.jp

And about five miles from us there's a house with a large conservatory that's collapsed under the weight of snow.

[Millymollymandy]

I've seen shovelling snow in blocks like that off roofs on the telly, somewhere in the US or Canada. Don't expect anyone to be doing the same thing in Britain!

Isn't that the downside of having good insulation?

[old tree man]

Wow be safe..

[Stonehead]

Isn't that the downside of having good insulation?

It's the downside of being miserly with the central heating. That extension is old and has almost non-existent insulation. The cold water pipes in the bathroom were partially frozen this morning and the toilet cistern freezes when it's around -15C outside.

It was -13.2C overnight. So not too bad.

[Silver Ether]

oooooeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sending warm thoughts ... hope your back is ok after that.

[Stonehead]

oooooeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sending warm thoughts ... hope your back is ok after that.

I do that sort of thing all the time. Well, not shovelling snow on the roof, but hard physical labour with lots of lifting and bending. So far, so good.

[Green Aura]

Let's hope you don't have to do that too often eh? Looks a bit scary, and especially with moving roofs!!

[Derry]

I've seen shovelling snow in blocks like that off roofs on the telly, somewhere in the US or Canada.

ive seen that too, i think it was a programme about Yellowstone?

but yea, im glad im not doin it haha

[Millymollymandy]

I've seen shovelling snow in blocks like that off roofs on the telly, somewhere in the US or Canada.

ive seen that too, i think it was a programme about Yellowstone?

but yea, im glad im not doin it haha

Yup that's right, well done. Interesting job!

[Rosendula]

I hope whoever was taking the photos had the kettle on when you got in

[Stonehead]

I did the sun porch today. It was genuinely scary.

The ceiling was already cracked in several places, while the beam that takes the weight of the roof at the back was bowed and tilting forwards. The problem is that this beam is nothing more than a piece of softwood 6x2 rawl-bolted into the stone wall of the house. It's adequate to support the weight of the roof, but woeful for taking the weight of a decent load of snow.

We have the building warrant and the building inspector's approval, so it is up to spec but potential snow loads were clearly not a factor to be engineered in.

Anyway, I cleared a space at one edge of the roof using a long-handled snow shovel, set the ladder in place and up I went. There was no way I was going to stand in the centre of the roof or along the outer edges (above the windows).

I had to stand in the gully between the house roof and the sun porch roof, then use the long-handled shovel to push the snow off. It wasn't easy and the roof creaked alarmingly throughout, but I got there in the end—without bringing the roof down.

Of course, clearing the two roofs wasn't the end of the job. All that snow had to be cleared away again at ground level so we could get to the doors again.

And after that I had to clear the entrance to the croft because the snow plough had been past and filled it in again.

And I had all the chores to do.

And the temperature never rose above -8.4C all day, while a moderate wind blew throughout.

So I'm just a little tired, windblown, scoured and worn. But I am well pleased that another job has been done.

[Mullein]

Jeez!!! Happy New Year man - you deserve a good one!