GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Snow falling off of the roof of the Kent Career Tech Center in Grand Rapids almost sounds like a train barreling down the tracks.
"Especially with metal roofs if they don't have proper snow blockers or to hold the snow up all of that can come off in one big avalanche so definitely keep an eye out for that," said Matt Williams, the lakeshore branch manager for Sherriff Goslin Roofing.
The video, filmed by the school that provides career and technical training for high school students, was taken after the first round of snow had fallen earlier in the week. KCTC said that there were no doors or entryways for the side of the school where the snow fell.
Williams said after larger snowfalls, scenes like the one at KCTC, while appreciated from a distance, can be a common sight across homes and businesses.
"Anything with shallower pitches, flat roofs, or you're gonna see a lot of more issues than something that's a little steeper."
However, he added that with Michigan building codes, "a lot of times, roofing is set up in a way where snow is gonna stay nice and fluffy."
When it's safe to go outside, Williams said you'll want to watch for ice discoloration on your roof.
"When you start seeing it, where it's melting, and you start seeing ice discoloration, that means that water is actually getting behind your shingles and getting into the wood," said Williams. "Starting to see that that just means your your roof is in need of some attention, or the water is getting into a penetration of the roof or a wall flashing, somewhere that it shouldn't be. That sometimes is having a roofer out to take a look at something like that."
One thing to worry about with accumulating snow on a roof is ice dams.
"If your roof is forming ice dams, what most people don't realize is that behind that wall of ice is ankle-deep water," said Williams. "If you have an ice dam that's six inches tall because the heat of the house is forming and melting that water, the heat from the house is keeping that liquid."
To get snow, or to unclog ice dams, roofers like Matt recommend snow rakes or ice pucks to help form a channel to help water escape.
"You don't want to take it all the way down where you're scoring or marring the shingles, you want to leave about a quarter inch of snow on the top of that," said Williams.
Local hardware stores and big box stores like Lowe's on Plainfield Ave. are seeing a lot of requests for rakes and ice pucks going into the big snow season.
Local hardware stores and big box stores like Lowe's on Plainfield avenue were seeing a lot of requests for rakes and ice pucks going into the big snow season. Assistant store manager Logan Isaacs said they were flooded with customers on the eve of the winter storm.
"Things like our snow, rakes for the roof, again, a little low on inventory at the moment, but that's one of those we still have shipped again," said Isaacs. "So we have still plenty to choose from. But other things that are helpful for that are the heating cables that you put on your roof around gutters, help, de-ice some of that."
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Watch 13 ON YOUR SIDE for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV and on your phone.