Snow removal crews 'working their tails off' in Thunder Bay

There's no shortage of work for crews that do rooftop snow removal in Thunder Bay, Ont. this winter.

In fact, phones have practically been ringing off the hook, said Jason Prinselaar, an estimator and roofing manager with Triad Contracting. 

"Right now, we are the busiest we've ever been. We are getting probably more calls in one week than we [would] in a whole previous season," he said. 

"We have a great bunch of guys. They're working their tails off."

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The work their crews are doing involves shovelling snow off of roofs and coating ice dams with an organic salt, Prinselaar explained, in order to prevent meltwater from becoming trapped by the ice, seeping under shingles and reaching ceilings and walls.

Clearing away the snow is key to prevent problems, he said, adding that he recommends homeowners use a roof rake, if they can, to regularly clear away the bottom three or four feet of snow from the rooftop. 

"Just so when we do have it melt, the water has somewhere to go."

Avoid snow removal mistakes

It's also been a busy winter for Justin Stovel of Stovel Property Maintenance Ltd., who does rooftop snow removal as well. 

But while homeowners may be anxious to have the snow and ice gone, they should also be careful about how it's done, he said, adding that he's seen people make mistakes, such as using corrosive driveway salt on ice dams, or trying to chip away the ice.  

"Eavestroughs and that, they're not very durable, so when you start hitting them and trying to bang off the ice, we've seen a lot of cases where people are all ripping off their eavestroughs and causing damage to their shingles."

He said if there's no danger of collapse, the whole roof doesn't necessarily need to be cleared, but he does recommend snow be removed around vents and near built-up ice.

"Just get the snow off so that at least then when the sun hits in the day when it's really warm it melts all the ice away, and then at least it can drain properly after that," he said. 

"If you're going to use salt, just do the research on what kind of salt it is, because salts like to eat metal, and shingles are held on by nails, so we've seen in the past where shingles will pretty much rot off the roof," he said, adding that something all-natural is a safer bet.  

He said people should also be careful about who they hire.

"I've seen a lot of people trying to advertise that they do snow removal on roofs, and just remember that, if they're not doing it through a company that the homeowner is liable for people on their roof."