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

In Part 1 of What’s on Your Roof? we discussed how, unfortunately, there aren’t any snow guard police out there patrolling the industry. This creates a two-fold problem: One, that you can’t count on there being building inspectors to check a go-to-market system for structural adequacy; and two, architects and installers of these systems can potentially be sued for personal and property damage from faulty snow retention systems they specify or install.

Wanting to offset the plant’s electrical usage, and still show a return on investment, McElroy Metal chose a rail-less solar mounting solution system for its second manufacturing facility in Adelanto, CA. Secure module attachment was done with S-5! clamps and the PVKIT® - direct-attach™ system.

At S-5!, we don’t recommend installing adhesive-mounted snow guards on metal roofs. From both an economic and design perspective, glued on plastic snow guards typically have low holding strength and are unable to handle harsh weather-related elements. The bond weakens over time and when it fails, the guard can rip away paint and protective roof coatings, potentially leading to corrosion.

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.