Snow coming off a roof rake makes a long hiss and then a thump. If you're standing in the wrong place there's a second thump, and that one is you. I learned that last February with a collar full of snow, and it's most of the reason I now have a routine instead of a general approach.
It's been a snowy February, the kind of lake-effect stretch where the snowblower comes out four times in a week. Since the ceiling stain at the start of the month, I've been much more disciplined about the roof than I was in December, when I assumed the new insulation had solved everything. Here's how it goes now.
The tool and when I use it
The rake is a $59 telescoping one from last winter: aluminum pole sections that reach about 21 feet, with a wide plastic blade on small rollers so it rides over the shingles instead of digging in. No ladder, no roof shoes, no plans to go up there. Our main roof is steep, I don't go on it, and the rake exists so I never have to.
My trigger is about 6 inches of new snow, or less if it's the heavy, wet kind. Under that, the roof can carry it, and now that the attic is insulated the main eaves mostly stay clear on their own. Over that, the snow sitting on the lowest few feet of roof is what turns into ice at the eaves once the sun gets on it. I'll also rake before a forecast warm-up even after only 4 inches, because thaw days are when water moves.
I try to do it the same day the snow stops. A day later it has settled and gotten heavier, and it comes down in slabs instead of sheets.
How I rake
- Only the first few feet. I pull the bottom 3 to 4 feet above the gutters, which is where ice dams start. I don't try to clear the whole roof.
- Leave an inch. I don't scrape down to bare shingles. The shingles are from 2013 and I'd like them to last, so a thin layer stays behind to protect the granules.
- Pull straight down, never sideways. Sideways is how the blade catches the edge of a shingle.
- Stand beside the slide, not under it. I work from the end of each section and step to the side before each pull. See above, regarding my collar.
- Never from a ladder. A ladder on packed snow with a 21-foot pole pulling weight toward you is a combination I won't try. If I can't reach it from the ground, it stays up there.
The dormer valley gets extra attention since the stain. From the side yard I can reach about the bottom third of it, and I pull everything I can from there. If ice has already started to form, a calcium chloride sock goes up on the end of the rake to cut a channel through it.
The power line rule
This is the one I'm strict about. The electric service line comes into the back corner of the house on the driveway side, and the rake pole is aluminum. On that stretch of roof I collapse the pole a section, work from the far side and keep the end of the pole angled away from the wire the whole time. If I have to lean or reach to make it work, I skip that strip and let it be. Some roof rakes come with fiberglass pole sections for exactly this reason, and if this one ever breaks, that's what replaces it.
After the snow comes down
Raking only moves the problem a few feet. The snow lands in a ridge along the foundation, right on top of the downspout extensions I added last May. So the last step is the shovel: I clear the ridge off the extensions so the next thaw has somewhere to drain, and I knock any ice out of the downspout outlets. The garage gets raked too when the snow is heavy and wet, since its roof is low enough to reach from the yard and old enough that I don't want to find out what it can hold.
All told it's about 40 minutes after a big snow, a little more if the valley has started to build. Moose is the only one who enjoys any of it. On every pull he runs in under the falling snow, comes out frosted from ears to tail and stands there waiting for the next one. He has not learned the collar lesson, and he doesn't need to.
