Really, How Much Snow Would It Take To Collapse Your Roof?

John Woike / Hartford Courant

To those who sat through the recent blizzard wondering how much snow it would take to collapse their home’s roof, here’s an answer:
A lot.
A properly designed, built-to-code residential roof in Connecticut should not collapse, even under extreme winter conditions.
“You design to a worst-case analysis,” says Barry LePatner, co-author of “Structural and Foundation Failures” and a New York City construction attorney. “If you follow those, you should not have a collapse unless there’s an extraordinary circumstance.”
There is a way, however, to determine if the threat of collapse is so great that the roof should be cleared either by a roofing specialist or the resident daredevil.

Do the math.

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