I ended up buying one of those roof rakes to clear my house's roof when I visited my
in-laws in northern NH last fall. I'm not worried about the snow on the roof being too
weighty, and as you can see from the photo, my roof is definitely has a steep enough
slope to shed any snow easily. That is the problem, it sheds it too easily! Comes down
in a veritable avalanche, usually right after I have cleared the patio and driveway in its
"drop zone".
And sometimes takes the gutters with it, particularly in the
valleys of the roof. The coefficient of friction between those terra cotta tiles and the snow
is considerably lower than that for asphalt roofing shingles. Doesn't take much to get it sliding.
The storm today gave me my first chance to experiment with the rake. Still working out
some of the "kinks" for truly efficient deployment, but I'm not hoping for more snow!
Could use another handle extension section to truly reach the top of the roof, but nibble
enough off the bottom and the top will eventually follow.
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And the trick is to always stay at the far end of the handle, away from the snow being pulled off
the roof
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