Flat Roofs And Snow Load

Asce 7 05 equation 7 1 assumes that the snow load results from multiple events.

Flat roofs and snow load.

Other considerations for sloped roofs can be found throughout chapter 7 of asce 7 10. Express the result in feet rather than inches. The flat roof snow load is calculated using formula 7 3 1. You need to use a snow load formula for flat roofs.

First figure out how deep the snow is piled up there. Wind seismic building weight furniture occupants etc. One of them is that flat roofs leak more easily than pitched ones. For example 18 inches would be 1 5 feet.

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. The snow load that is applied to our structure is not the ground snow load but in most cases the flat roof snow load. There are a few common misconceptions regarding flat roofs that are stubbornly persistent. Snow is actually one of the easiest to design for and all.

As a result equation 7 1 which accounts for loss between events will result in a non conservative value. Certainly the weight of snow can add up but your home must support a variety of loads. Minimum flat roof snow load values. In our case let s assume that our structure has a flat roof roof slope 5.

Another is that they cannot handle as much snow weight as pitched roofs because the snow sits directly on the roof.