Iowa, If There’s This Much Snow On Your Roof, You May Need A New One

We've all been focused on road conditions but what about our own roofs?

January was nasty. We got about 2 feet of snow dumped on us, then temperatures were in the negatives, and about 2 and a half weeks later, we still have snowbanks sitting around.

We were quick to clear off our driveways, roads, and sidewalks, but likely not so much the roofs. Those have been taking a lot of strain during this month-long mess.

Roofs are important but it's a thing that's easy to forget about until it starts to sag or leak (like mine) and the weight of this heavy, wet snow likely isn't helping it at all.

How Much Snow Your Roof Can Hold

Obviously your roof's integrity varies based on it's age, shape, and materials, but if you're in the QCA, there's a good chance this little arctic blast we've had the pleasure of living through has pushed your roof to it's limit.

ABC7 in Chicago said that a foot of heavy, wet snow is like having 3 pickup trucks on the roof.

The addition of ice weighs it down. It only takes anywhere from 1 foot to 2 feet of packed, wet, snow and ice to break down your roof. For fluffy snow, normally, a roof can hold 20 pounds per square foot of snow, according to USA Today.

Thankfully, it seems like the worst of it is behind us for now (knock on wood) so it might not be a bad idea to have the roof looked at once everything melts off.