Flat Roofs And Snow Load

If you live in the us our snow load calculator compares the total weight on your roof with the permissible load calculated according to the standards issued by the american society of civil engineers regarding the minimum design loads for buildings and other structures asce7 16.

Flat roofs and snow load.

One of them is that flat roofs leak more easily than pitched ones. Minimum flat roof snow load values. The snow load that is applied to our structure is not the ground snow load but in most cases the flat roof snow load. First figure out how deep the snow is piled up there.

There are a few common misconceptions regarding flat roofs that are stubbornly persistent. Wind seismic building weight furniture occupants etc. In our case let s assume that our structure has a flat roof roof slope 5. In regions with relatively low snow load values the load from a single event may result in the peak loading.

Other considerations for sloped roofs can be found throughout chapter 7 of asce 7 10. As a result equation 7 1 which accounts for loss between events will result in a non conservative value. You need to use a snow load formula for flat roofs. The easiest way is to push a yardstick into the snow on the roof selecting an area that looks typical of the overall snow depth.

Another is that they cannot handle as much snow weight as pitched roofs because the snow sits directly on the roof. Certainly the weight of snow can add up but your home must support a variety of loads. Snow is actually one of the easiest to design for and all. For example 18 inches would be 1 5 feet.

The flat roof snow load is calculated using formula 7 3 1.