Pull snow off a roof with an ordinary rake and you spend the afternoon dragging heavy loads towards your face. The clever tool Thomas McArt filmed works the other way round: you push a cutting frame up the roof from the ground, and the snow it slices loose rides down a long plastic sheet and drops off the eave, well clear of you.
How a slide roof-snow rake works
Slide-equipped roof rakes combine three parts: a metal cutting frame, a plastic slide sheet attached to it, and a long telescopic pole. The frame cuts a block of snow as it moves up the roof, the block breaks loose and slides down the sheet, and gravity does the rest. Commercial versions of the design include the Avalanche! and the Snowpeeler. They are reported to clear heavy, packed snow about twice as fast as a pull rake, although they cost more and are harder to control in strong wind.
McArt’s own note on the clip pointed out the tool’s weak spots: its nuts, bolts and wheels, and a frame that can bend or break in hard snow. Check those before each storm.
Roof rake types compared
- Telescopic pull rakes: poles of about 14–20 feet with a blade around 24 inches wide. Good for light, fluffy snow, but they get heavy at full extension and can scrape granules off asphalt shingles.
- Wheeled rakes: small wheels hold the blade about an inch above the shingles, protecting the roof and leaving a thin layer of snow behind.
- Slide systems: the push-up-and-slide design shown above, best for heavy, packed snow.
When roof snow becomes a problem
Wet snow can weigh 20–30 pounds per cubic foot, so a deep layer adds up fast. Accumulations of more than about 12 inches can lead to sagging trusses, cracked beams or even collapse, especially on older or low-slope roofs. Snow also feeds ice dams: attic heat melts the bottom of the snowpack, the water refreezes at the cold eaves, and the ice ridge traps meltwater that seeps under the shingles.
Clearing early helps on both counts. Six inches of fresh snow is far easier to move than a foot of packed, wet snow, and removing it promptly reduces ice-dam formation.
Roof snow removal safety tips
- Work from the ground. Never use a roof rake from a ladder, where falling snow can knock you off balance.
- Stand clear of the drop zone, and keep children and pets away from it.
- Leave 1–2 inches of snow on the roof to protect the shingles.
- Look up before you start. Metal poles conduct electricity, so use a fibreglass pole anywhere near overhead lines.
For other ways snow leaves a roof, see a snow layer moving without a tool, and for the structural side of things, why a collapse needs more than a visual explanation.
Related reading
- A Roof-Snow Release Beside a Ladder
- An Ice Lens and the Concentration of Sunlight
- A Wisconsin Cold-Weather Stunt in Its Original Setting
- How to Walk on Ice
- A Wood-Splitting Clip That Keeps the Pieces Together
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