If you live in an area where there is a lot of snow, you probably give a lot of thought to getting rid of the snow that accumulates on the sidewalks and in your driveway. But that’s a relatively easy task – get out your old shovel or snow plow and get to work.

But a task as simple as shoveling the sidewalk is not always as easy as it sounds. Snow is very heavy, and if you go too enthusiastically through the removal process with a shovel, you may get back pain or blisters on your hands. And at least a handful of people a year lose a finger to a snowplow blade because they reach out to clear a jam, instead of using a long-handled broom handle.

The sidewalks are flat, there is no way to get around shoveling them after a heavy snowfall. But what about your roof? Most homes in areas that receive a lot of snow have sloped roofs so the snow simply slides off. However, there are times when snow accumulates on your roof and because the snow is so heavy it simply needs to be removed before it causes serious damage to that roof. Even if you know that your roof was built to support all of that weight, there is another reason it should be removed. Melting snow can cause ice dams in gutters … so as more snow melts, the water has nowhere to go except to the roofs.

Don’t get on your roof

Even if you can go out on your roof during the middle of winter, it would be better if you didn’t. Climbing around a dry roof is quite difficult; Trying to climb up and down a sloping roof covered in snow, which could be obscuring the ice below it, is the height of madness … and the fall.

The solution is a roof rake, which is operated from the ground.

Security First

Regardless of which roof rake you use, do not use it near electrical lines. Let me repeat it, do not use it anywhere near power lines. Even if you are a dozen feet away from a power line, if you lose control of the rake for whatever reason, its length is such that it could easily tip over that dozen feet, hit the power line, and give the operator quite a shock. unpleasant, to say the least.

Several models

There are quite a few snow rakes on the market. The Minnesnowta Roof Razor is a design that is built and sold in the state of Minnesota, and it’s not worth knowing what native Minnesotans don’t know about protecting their homes from snow.

The RoofRake allows the operator to reach more than 26 feet, which should be more than enough to remove most of the snow from the roof.

Like the other designs, the Philips Snow Mower cuts through ice and snow, but protects the roof tiles by not allowing the rake to actually touch the roof. Philips claims that its snowmower can clean a roof in half the time that a rake takes.

So visit the web, check your local stores, and then get yourself a suitable tool to make sure your roof and home are not damaged during the next winter storm.

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