Creaking, sagging deck, doors that will not close, or water at a frame? That is a load event in progress — clear the people, call (555) 087-2208, and do not send anyone up with a shovel. A survey flue is cheap; a collapsed bay is not.
The load survey
Depth measured at the drift lines, density cored and weighed, the total read in pounds per square foot against what the drawings say the deck carries — with a margin, because drawings describe the roof as built, not as aged. The number decides whether we watch, clear, or clear tonight.
The steam cut
Ice dams and blocked drains get low-pressure steam: heat that finds its way through the ice without finding its way into the membrane. No chisels, no picks, no impact tools anywhere near a roof — the tool that clears fastest is the one that shortens the roof’s life fastest.
The drainage paths
Snow left on a roof is storage; the paths to scuppers, interior drains and gutters are the release valves. Every clearing plan keeps them open first — most “roof leaks” on the flats are a dammed drain sending melt sideways, and the fix is a path, not a pump.
How it goes
The storm sequence, roof by roof
The same sequence on every job — the only variable is your project.
Before the storm
The watch sheet
Every roof on the roster carries a card: design load, deck type, drain locations, the drift lines the wind always builds, and the trigger depth where its number gets dangerous. The forecast arms the watch; the cards build the route that says who clears first.
During
The readings
Depth checks at the drift lines on the big roofs, by the hour on the marginal ones. A roof that gains a foot of wind-drift overnight is a different roof than the one the forecast described — the psf decides, not the calendar.
At trigger
The clearing plan
Snow moved in a pattern that protects the membrane: paths opened to the drains first, drifts cut back in lifts, the parapet lines cleared before they become ice shelves. Nothing is pushed to one end and left as a ridge — a windrow on a roof is a dam with a schedule.
After
The steam pass
Dams steamed, drains thawed and flowing, downspouts checked to the ground. Skylight rings and hatch curbs cleared by hand, HVAC stands dug out, and the membrane walked for the fasteners the drifts hid.
Filed
The load report
Depths, weights cleared, paths opened, photos with timestamps — one page per roof per storm, filed to your inbox the same day. Engineers, insurers and landlords read the same document, which is the point of documents.
Services & rates
The roof card, per square and per hour
Measured against your roof’s own card in October; priced before the first storm. Season retainers carry the watch, the readings and the first clearing; everything else is below.
The roof card, 2026 — 27
Load survey & watch sheet$240 / roof
Depths, density core, psf against the drawings, trigger depth set — the October baseline
Season watch retainerfrom $410 / season
Storm readings at the drift lines, hourly on marginal roofs, armed by the forecast
Snow clearing, roof planes$38 / 100 sq ft
Plan-driven, membrane-safe, paths first — priced per 100 sq ft with lifts and drifts itemized
Ice-dam steaming$145 / hr
Low-pressure steam, no impact tools, gutters and downspouts checked to the ground
Drain thaw & path opening$95 / drain
Scuppers, interior drains and gutters — the release valves, opened first, with the crew’s own walks brined
Canopies & loading docksfrom $180 / visit
Standing-seam canopies, dock covers and walkway shelters — cleared early, before the bylaw notices the icicle line over the public walk
Since 2014
The flats, weighed
Haltcliffe flats, 2025 — 2026
Roofs that kept their number
Six storm files from last season, photographed from the deck.
Our engineer wanted weekly depth readings all winter; Roofload put them in a log with densities and psf totals, and the February event — a 31-inch weekend with wind — was cleared to a plan our insurer accepted without a site visit. The watch retainer is the cheapest structural insurance we buy.
Two firms quoted the ice dams with chisels in the quote. Roofload steamed them off in an afternoon, checked the downspouts to the ground, and the picture of flowing drains is dated and in the file. The membrane has not leaked since and neither has our confidence in them.
The dock canopies are light steel and the snow does not read the drawings. They clear them at the first trigger now — early, small passes, no drama — and what used to be a January of bowed panels and a spring of claims is now a line on the invoice.
The call came at 5:40 on a Sunday: the roof over the cold store was creaking and the dock doors would not shut — the classic signs, and we knew enough to be frightened. Roofload had a crew reading the drift lines by 6:20, the number at 7, and a plan on the deck by 8: lifts off the drifts, paths to the four interior drains, steam on the dammed scupper. By mid-afternoon the roof was at card weight, the drains flowing, the load report in my inbox before the crew left. Our engineer reviewed it Monday and called it textbook. The previous contractor never once gave us a number — just invoices.
Load questions
The five every roof owner on the flats asks.
How much snow can a flat roof actually hold?
It depends on the deck, and the honest answer is the drawings plus a margin for age: many flat roofs on the flats carry 25 to 30 psf by design, and drifted snow runs far heavier per foot than the fluffy average — a wind-built drift can double the load over a bay without changing the yardstick. The survey reads your roof’s own number; the watch keeps you from meeting it by surprise.
Should snow just be left to melt?
Some of it, some seasons — a light load with open drains and a warm spell is storage that leaves politely. The trouble is the combination: a deep blanket, then rain on snow, then a freeze. Rain can add its own weight instantly and the melt has nowhere to go through a dammed drain. The watch sheet says which roofs we leave and which we never do.
Why steam instead of chisels or salt pucks?
Because the membrane is the roof. Impact tools cut and bruise it — a leak next autumn is the standard souvenir of a chiselled dam — and rock salt attacks fasteners and corrodes drains. Low-pressure steam melts a channel through the ice without touching the membrane, and we check the path all the way to the ground. Slower, quieter, and the roof forgets we were there.
What is a clearing plan, exactly?
The pattern the snow comes off in: drains and scuppers opened first, drifts cut in lifts rather than pushed whole, no windrow ridges left for the next wind to load, mechanical fastener lines and seams protected, and the staging kept to the walkways. An unplanned clear moves snow; a planned clear moves it in an order that keeps the roof buildable and the warranty arguable.
We have never had a problem — why start now?
Because the flat roofs that fail rarely warn twice, and the ones that warn once were usually lucky. The October survey is $240, the watch retainer from $410 the season, and together they convert the one structural risk you cannot see from the ground into a number on a card. Most of our roster came aboard after a neighbour’s event, which we would rather stop being true.
October surveys book the roster; the watch arms with the first forecast · (555) 087-2208 · loads@roofloadsnow.example
Get the roof on the watch
Tell us the building, the roof and whether you have the drawings — the October survey reads the psf, sets the trigger and prints the card. Load call answered at any hour in a storm; the crew’s nine-minute median is on the ledger above. loads@roofloadsnow.example