Kelowna • Okanagan • Snow Retention
SNOW
STOPS.
Snow does not come off a metal roof gradually. It lets go all at once, as a slab, usually on the first warm afternoon after a cold snap. Snow stops are there to hold it where it fell until it melts.
It Comes Off All At Once.
Snow sits on a metal roof held mostly by friction. Sun on the panel, or heat escaping up through the deck, melts a thin film underneath it — and the slab loses its grip in one go. It arrives as a single mass moving fast, and it takes the gutter with it on the way past.
The Okanagan is well set up for this. Our winters swing back and forth across freezing rather than staying cold, and every swing is another chance for the roof to let go. It usually happens on the mild afternoon after a cold week — which is exactly when people are outside again.
To be straight about it: no BC code makes you put snow retention on a house. On a house there is usually nothing in the code to satisfy. Stratas, resort developments and commercial designs sometimes do call for it, so we check before we quote. It is worth doing when there is something underneath worth protecting — the door you actually use, a walkway, the driveway, a gas meter, a heat pump, a deck. If your roof sheds onto open lawn, you can reasonably leave it alone.
Done Properly.
Standing Seam
Clamped to the seam. No holes. The brackets grip the raised seam rather than going through the panel, so the metal keeps expanding and contracting the way it was designed to. Screwing a snow stop through a standing seam pins the panel to the structure — the fixing fatigues, works loose, and then it leaks.
Screw-Down Panels
Through the panel, and sealed. Exposed-fastener profiles have no seam to grip, so the mount has to go through the sheet. What it lands in matters as much as the fastener does, and that gets worked out on the roof rather than assumed.
Shingle & Tile
Asphalt grips snow far better than metal, so it is a smaller problem — but a steep pitch above an entry still lets go. How the stops attach depends on whether the roof is being replaced or staying put, and tile takes its own bracket entirely.
Spacing Is Worked Out
For a full system, the supplier lays it out for your roof: its snow load, its pitch, the roof type and the distance the snow travels before it reaches the stop. It is worked out, not a rule of thumb. A long slope usually needs more than one row — a single line at the eave asks one bracket line to hold the whole roof.
Where It Goes
Retention only needs to cover what matters: the door you actually use, the walkway, the driveway, the gas meter, the heat pump, the deck. Wrapping every elevation is usually money spent protecting lawn. We would rather point that out than sell you the extra metres.
It Is Not An Ice Dam Fix
Snow stops do not cause ice dams — a warm attic does. But if you already get ice at the eave, holding the snow up there gives the meltwater more to work with. If both are happening, sort the ventilation and the ice damming at the same time.
Which System Fits Your Roof?
Cost is relative. Your price comes after we have seen the roof.
Got Questions?
Protect What’s Below Your Roof.
Starting Now.
We will look at what is actually underneath your roofline, work out the spacing for your snow load and pitch, and tell you how much of the roof genuinely needs covering — at no cost.
Request a Free EstimateNo obligation • Spacing worked out for your roof • Metal, shingle and tile