One of the reasons I built a geodesic dome for a home was its strength. The geometry of a dome makes it very good at resisting massive snow loading. The dome never needs to be shoveled. If the snow gets thick enough it tends to fall off.
That went pretty well when we used to get deep fluffy snow. When huge sheets of snow slid off the roof it wasn’t too dramatic. In recent years our snow has been very heavy and sticky. Often we get rain on top of that to make it heavier.
Now when the snow falls off the house it’s an event. There’s a roar and sometimes the whole house shakes. It doesn’t cause any damage to the house. However, I really have to make sure there’s nothing underneath when it comes down. It could really squish stuff -like that little pop up shed I set up late last fall. Oh well.
-Sixbears
The snow falling off of our dome took the screen door off last year during the "atmospheric river" storms.
ReplyDeleteImpressive!
DeleteMetal roofing also can cause a serious avalanche of wet snow that crushes stuff.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I've gotten some aerobic exercise using a roof rake and often enough became the abdominal snowman. :-)
Better than the roof collapsing though.
When we traveled in the winter it was nice not to have to worry about the amount of snow on the roof.
DeleteI successfully used the pop up shed last winter, but this year I moved it a couple feet closer to the house without thinking. My bad.