This is part one of a two-part series on qualifying snow retention systems.

In places where it frequently snows a lot and even in places where it doesn’t, metal is a favored material in protecting a house or other structure. On the surface, snow might appear to be rather innocuous, as it gently falls from the sky like the ending scene in the movie, White Christmas. But what the movie doesn’t show, is all through the night and much of the morning (if not longer) the light fluffy stuff piles deeper and deeper on top of the roof, incrementally increasing its own weight. Then, when the sun comes out, an avalanche of snow tumbles down onto unsuspecting persons, vehicles and landscapes below. 

When a snow avalanche falls off of a rooftop, it can damage anything in its path! This sudden release of snow can be dramatic—dumping tons of snow in mere seconds. Falling snow forms a temperature-sensitive bond to the surface of a metal roof. Then, when that roof is warmed, whether from the sun or from building heat loss, the bond between the snow bank and roof is broken and a thin film of melt water serves to lubricate the slide.

Metal roofs are a smart decision. But with metal roofs, you must consider the risk of roof top avalanches. A quality snow retention system will help you maintain your roof, avoid personal and property damage, and efficiently and safely allow snow to melt off your structure. But there are a number of methods to mount snow guard systems. What is the best way?

Well, you’re a loyal S-5! user and as most prudent consumers, contractors, or installers; you are looking to save money without sacrificing quality, tested performance, and ease of installation. Today, we will address questions related to the use of the S-5-V or S-5-V Mini and S-5-H90 or S-5-H90 Mini over the use of the S-5-U or S-5-U Mini clamps.

The S-5-U and S-5-U Mini clamp are versatile clamps. This clamp is designed to fit vertically-oriented seams and many of the (larger) horizontally-oriented seams. Because of this versatility there is more labor, tooling and machining involved in the manufacture of the clamp. The S-5-U clamp is machined for an M8 bolt on both the top and the side of the clamp. And there are setscrew holes on both sides. So, while the clamp fits more metal roof profiles, it also costs more to produce. 

The first direct-attach PVKIT was released almost a decade ago, disrupting the industry and providing a simple, cost-effective way to mount solar to both standing seam and exposed fastener metal roofing without using rails. This innovation drastically reduced the material needed to install solar. When you think about it, with a metal roof, the standing seam or the ribs of the roof are your rails.  

First you need to determine what type of metal roof you have. S-5! Provides various solutions for all metal types and profiles. One of the S-5! clamp products will be suited to your standing seam (concealed fastened) metal roof. So which standing seam roof profile do you have? Let’s take a look at how to make that determination. 

Recently, we had a contractor using our on-line snow retention calculator ask this question.  He had done a number of planning calculations to customize applications of our ColorGard® system for a particular project, and noticed the field for “Safety Factor” on our load information table and also the calculator. What is this?  And what does it do? He wanted to know.

Upon reading the Solar Power World article Metal Roofs are No Problem for Solar Installations, my reaction was, "Well, I suppose that is true—if (and only if) it is done 'the right way.'" There are so many materials, profiles, gauges, metallurgies and corrosion behaviors to consider; not to mention effective waterproofing methods, sealant chemistries, thermal cycling characteristics, weathering behaviors, strength of materials, structural engineering principals and relevant test methods. It is anything but a simple science! 

Is a Bigger Snow Guard Better?

There is a common perception that “more is better”, such as “two pipes are better than one” and “three are better than two”. Many believe that because a snow bank is very deep, it should have a taller snow guard system—with more cross-members.

Often, we are asked to provide localized snow guards and systems (snow retention systems) over an entranceway or several of them rather than protecting the entire eave line of a standing seam metal roof. In limited cases this can be done, but extreme caution is advised.