How much snow....?

The snow load on RV roof topic comes up quite often. Over on nuwa forums some years back someone posted a picture of a Denver, CO area RV dealers lot full of trailers/motor homes with over 3' of snow on their roofs.

How heavy is snow....how heavy is a rock....it all depends

MFL wrote:
Many FW roofs are considered to be walkable, or at least advertised as such. Most have a ladder for easy access. IMO, if a 200 lb man can stand on it, with no feeling of give, a moderate snow load will not be a problem.

When the temp is such to cause thaw, I like to push the snow off, using a tall step ladder, and my garage broom, with a 7.5' handle on it. I feel the thaw/freeze cycle is more damaging than the weight, of one to two feet of snow.

Jerry

I agree. Figure that a roof is rated for, at minimum, a 200 lb man. Average man's shoe size is about a 10. From what I've found, that equates to about 31 sq in area. Doing the math, that gives a load of about 6.4 lbs/sq in. Convert to sq ft and you have 921+ lbs/sq ft load carrying ability...in theory. 921 lbs theoretical load capacity would equal a column of WATER 14+ feet deep. Do I think that the roof, as a whole, would carry that? Hell, no, but given an =average= weight of snow of 12.5 lbs/cu ft, the roof would hold a pretty decent snow load with no problems...structurally. Skylights and vents would be the weakest points, IMO.

(I am NOT writing a graded term paper, so look up your own citations like I did. :B)

Lyle

Many FW roofs are considered to be walkable, or at least advertised as such. Most have a ladder for easy access. IMO, if a 200 lb man can stand on it, with no feeling of give, a moderate snow load will not be a problem.

When the temp is such to cause thaw, I like to push the snow off, using a tall step ladder, and my garage broom, with a 7.5' handle on it. I feel the thaw/freeze cycle is more damaging than the weight, of one to two feet of snow.

Jerry

Snow load design for RVs is a good question. Houses are built different ways depending on where they are due to anticipated snowfall but since an RV has wheels, no one knows where it will be. Realistically, the roof span is pretty small so it's not hard to just over-build them. Of course, over-build is not a term typically associated with RVs so who knows? Good question though.

This is one of the reasons I pony up and pay for indoor storage for the fiver and boat for the winter. That plus the freeze/thaw cycles and the massive amount of rain we get here on the wet coast. I love how they come out in the spring looking exactly as they went in the fall! :B

Super_Dave wrote:
Might not be an easy answer to find but knowing what the designed live load of the roof would give a person an idea how many pounds per square foot the roof could take. 1 cubic foot of water weighs approx. 62 pounds. So, wet snow versus powder would also make a huge difference.

Adverage 1inch liquid equals 10" of snow so super daves wt per cu ft 120" for every 10 sq ft at 1 inch of snow on your roof equals 64lbs. or for my rig 1920lbs for every inch of the white stuff.

One of my buddies parked his motorhome under a metal carport cover. Unfortunately, the cover wasn't rated for much of a snow load, it collapsed and crushed the roof of his motorhome. A case where it would have been better to be uncovered than covered.

I have always thought this way -

ALL those dealers in NW NY State where the lake effect snows get turned on, or anywhere with heavy snow fall for that matter.. NONE get on and clean the roof that I know of...

Since I am still somewhat young, I will use a rubber squeegee if the snow pack gets DEEP.... just to clean off the outter 2' or 3' to allow the water to escape

I always am more concerned with the re freeze and thawing causing water to run into places it usually wouldn't..

Done that once or twice over the years is all....

Mine along with a couple hundred other rigs sits in a yard all winter. No one comes and cleans them off.

Never seen a rig flattened yet due to regular snow loads including up along Lake Huron where we kept our camper for a few years.

Super Dave, has the answer! Too bad.....it wasn’t the $64,000 question! ;)