Caved roof from snow load in Alaska

[betsy99669]

Hi-

Is there anyone else from Alaska? When I bought my '61 Airflyte, the roof was caved in from snow. I had a carpenter working on it. When he removed the ceiling, he discovered that all of the braces had been cut through when the electrical was initially wired. So he replaced the braces with new wooden supports. That pushed out the cave-in pretty good. Just some minor dents are visible.

My question is this:
With winter just around the corner, will the new supports be enough so the snow won't cave-in the roof again? I spent a lot of money getting it fixed and don't want this to be a yearly expense. I don't have a garage and it will be a LONG time before I get one. . .I would get indoor plumbing and a larger cabin (mine's 14.5 x 18) before I splurge for a garage.

Also,when I first brought my camper home, it was winter and I covered it with a tarp so the snow and rain wouldn't get in. My wings poked holes in the tarp. So, I put boxes over the wings, but the corners of the boxes poked small holes in the tarp as well because the weight of the snow and ice pulled on the tarp. I bought my Shasta in March toward the end of winter, I know the weight of the snow for an entire winter will accumulate on the ground around the camper and pull on the tarp. I thought about getting a free standing "portable carport" but I don't know how they stand up to snowy winters.

Does anyone have any ideas? I sure would appreciate your input.

Thanks,
Betsy

[franksshasta]

Here in N. Minnesota a lot of people use 2 or 3 2x4's to make a temp wall down the center of the floor and up to the ceiling. These are just wedged in place up to a 2x4 on the ceiling (you could wrap it to prevent any ceiling damage). I would go so far as to put a slight bow upwards in the ceiling. Don't go nuts, but this would also help in snow and water release over the winter.

[betsy99669]

WOW what a great idea!!! It's simple and inexpensive. That sounds like it will do the trick.
Thanks Frank,

Betsy

[61shastacompact]

I have seen folks slice a hole in a tennis ball and place it over the tips of the wings in order to keep from poking holes through the tarp.

Jim

[betsy99669]

Thanks Jim, I'll give that a try.

Betsy

[safetybruce]

Betsy,
I lived in Valdez for 6 winters, in a 10 X 40 "vintage" trailer on a piece of property I bought on the edge of the duck flats. At least once every winter we got 48" of snow within a 24-hour period. If I had not gotten up on the roof and shoveled it off twice during that 24-hours, my roof and trailer would have been history. Luckily I was at home every time we got four feet dumped on us in 1 day. And the trailer was a park model mobile home with much more stout rafters than my Compact, that would hold my weight and a lot of snow while I frantically shoveled. I am not sure what your highest 24-hour snow dump may be in Soldotna, and what that equates to in snow load, but because the Shastas are not too wide to be able to shovel the roof from either side, you may be stuck with keeping a ladder handy and have to shovel it, if you are not able to put up a fairly steep sloped shed roof that your Shasta can be parked under. And yes, by the end of winter, I was tossing snow UP off the roof onto the pile around the trailer on 3 sides, with almost no light coming into most windows. Such was life in Valdez. I was renting 2 even older airstreams to buddies, and they kept the heat on, and the snow mostly eased right off their roof(s) just with them shoving at the side of the snow pile because of the rounded roof and ends. I also had a guy clearing my driveways and around the airstreams with a big articulating front end loader to meet my responsibilities as a "landlord". The snow removal costs meant I didn't make much money off the rentals for about 4 months out of the year. But I bought the airstreams and set up proper hook-up sites for them basically to help my pals out since modest rentals were few and far between during the first few years after the Exxon Valdez debacle, and my Alyeska salary allowed me a bit of financial discression.

[LittleVintageTrailer]

I'm in a similar dilema in what to do for shelter for the trailer for the winter. It's either going to be one of those portable carports, a tarp (not my preference though) or I've even thought of if we could build a lean to on the other side of our house and park it under there. Though I think I'd have to take out a tree for it to be able to back into that area. Not sure I'll have to measure. So I don't have an answer, but the suggestions you have received are pretty good ones. That one about bracing from floor to ceiling from the inside is pretty clever!

[Bow_Tied]

Check your newspaper or with a local car club - many classic car owners store their cars in barns and sheds over the winter. You don't need heated storage so the cost should not be huge to rent a storage space in barn. Maybe there aren't many farms in alaska, never been there. This is what I do, costs me less than $25/month and no worries about the snow.

[joek]

Haha, if I could even find outside storage for less than $50 a month I'd be all over it. I guess it all depends on where you live.

[diamondrelics]

I've had one of those portable carports and you still have to get the snow load off those. As long as you clear the snow off now and then their ok. Mine lasted for years.

[betsy99669]

Thanks diamondrelics et ALL,

I bought a portable carport and we put it together last weekend. That was a good thing because we had ICE on the windshield this morning. Yikes!!

I didn't want to have to climb up all winter and shovel snow as Safetybruce had to when he lived in Valdez.

I had to elevate the carport on cinder blocks because my camper is taller than a car and I even bought a carport that has a zipper that runs all the way to the peak. Raising it up on cinder blocks was just perfect.

Wish me luck because winter is knocking at the door. Things have to be in order BEFORE the snow blows because when that "Termination Dust"(snow) comes, all I can do is hunker down and endure until "breakup" (spring), which doesn't really happen until late April.

Betsy

[cowcharge]

A friend of mine has an interesting solution for snow on his Poly Palace, that I think could be great if adapted for covering campers for the winter (or living in them for that matter). An inflatable roof! We're in Maine, and while we don't often get 4' storms, 1, 2, and 3' storms are fairly common in a good winter. Seems like 'most every winter, some grocery store or Wal-Mart roof caves in somewhere.

The Poly Palace started life as a greenhouse. It's like a half-wood-half-poly Quonset hut, about 40' x 16', and about 16' high in the center, but it's the roof that's the awesome part.

The roof is tall aluminum conduit hoop rafters, with a doubled-2x4 ridge pole connecting the rafters and the gable ends. There are three or four doubled-2x4 posts holding the ridge up, and it's all lashed together with red parachute cord. It's covered with clear poly sheeting that is held in place all along the top edges of the walls and gables by these long, sine-wavy stiff steel wires that squish the poly into long flat channels like linear snap rings (dunno what the system is called, but it works great), and they seal it to boot. The hoop rafters are semicircles so it's about 14' high in the center, big enough for his 23' sailboat on a cradle to fit in one half (I'm guessing on the dimensions, I never measured it, I just sweated in there in the summer, it got beastly hot even with the doors open).

Anyway, what my very resourceful buddy did was to cover the roof with two layers of poly instead of one, duct tape any edge that wasn't sealed in the channels, like around the corners, and then he installed a small, maybe 6" exhaust fan in the inside layer of poly.

It takes about half an hour to inflate the roof before a storm (he usually just leaves the fan running for a couple of months since he's got a solar pv system), and the snow mostly slides right off under its own weight, with some help from a long stick with wheels on the end if it's sticky snow or ice. It also seems to form an insulating air layer, so when the sun comes out, and heats the interior through the lower, more vertical part of the poly where the snow can't stick, the heat melts the snow in the upper part of the roof. Running a salamander heater inside helps too. I was the last one to put new poly on the roof (recycled, lots of little holes to tape), in '08 and it's still holding up fine. You can successfully maneuver two loose layers of 40' x 40' poly by yourself and not go crazy, if you pick the right day and you have a sailboat to stand on.

For our purposes, you could just build the aluminum/poly roof with the fan and some gables, and skip the walls. It only needs to be what, maybe ten feet tall in the center, which would make it 20' wide. The camper could support the ridge with some minimum framing, and you could use a blue tarp floor and stake everything down good. You could even inflate it with warm air during a storm if you wanted. If you have a wall to build against you could save half the aluminum and poly. If you're living in it, hook up extensions for your fridge and furnace exhausts and watch your propane bill go dowwwwwn...

[effierover]

We bought a tarp-covered shelter logic for the winter and it's survived its first test - about two feet overnight.

We got the barn-style roof which is extra high and steeply sloped so we could fit the Compact in there. Side benefit: the snow doesn't seem to want to stick. My husband went inside and poked the tarp so the snow would fall off once ... then we discovered that it takes care of itself. Once a couple of inches builds up on the top, it drops off.

[LittleVintageTrailer]

I was out yesterday brooming off snow from the roof of the Astroflyte. About 3 inches worth. It's covered with a RV cover but I figure it's best to keep the extra weight off and this snow was heavy moisture filled snow.

[Nashville Ken]

I have a tarp covering my 62 Airflte, only problem is it has worn through the paint from moving in the wind. It actually POLISHED the aluminum to a mirro like finish!!! Too bad its not an Airstream LOL. OH well, its going to get new paint soon anyway then in to the barn for protection form the elements.

[betsy99669]

I put up a portable carport. So far this winter, we've had to get ladders and remove snow from the roof 3 times. The weight of the snow makes the roof sag too much. I've tried pushing the snow off from the inside, but the snow is too heavy. When the temps dip down to -20, the roof is brittle. I don't want it to tear, so we've been shoveling it off when it is "warmer" ( around 0).

[cowcharge]

I'm doing roof repairs to my 22', in between raking the snow off. Putting in new framing and trying to figure out how to fix the stretched seams.

[betsy99669]

We shoveled snow off again today. Now we don't need a ladder because the snow is high enough just to walk up and shovel the carport roof.

It was cold today (-14). But tomorrow it is supposed to warm up to 3 degrees (the high). We are gaining more daylight so it won't be long now that spring will arrive (probably end of March). Our commuinity has 10 ft ice sculptures around town. They won't melt until then and they are great to enjoy. Sooo, our shoveling days will last only another 6 weeks or so.

[Gone Kayaking]

wow that is really something. 10ft ice sculptures!! We've had 70 deg temps the past few weeks in Oakland CA. Can barely imagine being able to stand in snow deep enough to brush off the top of the trailer.. PICS please if you can.

[betsy99669]

Here are pics from Alaska:


Shoveling the roof without a ladder


10 ft ice sculpture of a howling wolf.


Dog sled and sled dog ice sculpture


Saddled salmon...Giddyup!


Childrens ice slide.


Walrus carving, the tusks were knocked off by vandals.


I scream, you scream, we all scream for Dairy Queen.

[distant75]

My god is that dog huge!!

Very nice pics.

[Gone Kayaking]

love these!! Especially that ice slide.