York County roofers keep busy this winter
By Lauren Boyer, York Daily Record, Pa. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
It's been a busy season for his 32-year-old company, Dover Roofing, as the ice and snow of recent storms has provided plenty of opportunities to cash in on damaged homes.
That said, he and other area roofers say they're ready for things to calm down.
"You won't believe some of the stuff we've had," Boring said.
One woman had a tree branch fall through the roof and into the living room.
"It went straight through," he said. "That thing must have been like an arrow."
The good news: These repairs are generally covered by homeowners' insurance policies.
The bad news: They usually can't be fully repaired until spring, Boring said, adding that most roofs are temporarily patched with full renovations occurring once the snowy season is over.
Things get even more serious when it comes to large commercial roofs.
"We're trying to clear off a lot of these warehouses that have a snow load on them," said
Melting will occur underneath the layers of snow due to the heat in the building, Grim said.
When it reaches the outside of the building, it will refreeze and create a dam, preventing other water from running off.
"It creates what's called 'hydraulic water pressure,'" Grim said. "Water is eight pounds per gallon. This forces water into areas of a roof that never leaked before."
When it rains, things get worse.
"It acts like a sponge," he added, "and won't let the water run off."
His company weighs each layer of snow in areas of one square foot.
The most recent snow weighed 11 pounds, he said.
The snow before it weighed 12.2 pounds, he said, adding that the bottom layer of snow on some warehouses weighed in at 26.2 pounds.
That pressure builds up.
Snow can be very heavy -- even when it comes to small retail buildings.
"We did a
"On top of the leaks, it's the amount of weight on top of the roofs," he said. "You have a dry snow. It rains on top of that. It doubles the weight."
All Type Roofing, based in
"Steel will start to twist," he said. "Then you know there's too much weight on the building."
First, he said, workers will shovel the snow three feet from the edge of the building and clean the gutter so the water can drain.
"We've seen some collapses," he said. "It hasn't been like this since 1994 and 1996. Those were the last winters we had like this."
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