The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

Roof Cleaning Grand Rapids Michigan 616-914-9064 wrote:

---

cleaning off the salt from the walks would kind of defeat the purpose for having it done wouldn't it ? The price of having the salt applied is not cheap. I am sure most companies would not want it washed away. You might do better researching liquid ice melt, and offering this to companies instead of using salt.

---

 I will be shutting down for the winter months in Ontario, I will be roofing new custom homes in the winter and most likely I will be getting calls for snow removal on roofs!

And maybe a little ice fishing!

Thanks for your reply.

I found a few similar tools last winter, gotta find the links but this is one of them...

http://toolmonger.com/2009/01/26/cause-an-avalanche/

 You don't need to get ALL the snow off, just keep it from building up esp. at jam points like valleys etc.  I can see it now, a homeowner bitch'n theres still a few flakes up there

 You can use a torch but BE CAREFUL, seems every year theres a story of someone burning down a house with a torch.  Usually their own because, well, there idiots

Search for snow torch, had a link to northern tools but was waaay to long.

If using a torch think of things like vinyl siding etc

Gary, up here we can sometimes get (as in last year) 2-3 feet of snow pile up on roofs that may stay for months and we have had numerous collapses but even worse is the amount of ice damming damage that happenes when snow melts during the days sun melt and refreezes at night then the next days meltwater gets up underneath the slate/shingles etc and leaks into the house doing significant wall and ceiling damage resulting in mold/plaster damage that is big bucks to fix plus property damage in the form of furniture valuable paintings etc. We deal with a lot of this.

Kentucky is NOTHING like the northeast weather, Hell even Texas and Florida "get" snow but its not the same beast.

Roof Cleaning Severna Park MD wrote:

---

I'm talking to a friend of mine who install heat tape for a living. He's going to give me some ideas for the winter on Friday. I'll get back to you guys after speaking with him. Installing a heat tape as a preventive measure may be a good service to add during the winter to avoid costly ice dam issues.

---

Upselling heat tape (heated wire) to your past customers after the cleaning season ends in cold areas (like oct-dec. for example) is a good way to make up for the lack of roof cleaning income followed by snow removal in the snowy months (Jan-March?) in which you can use the opportunity to sell those HO's on spring roof cleaning.

Maybe I should just PM this info for you guys?T.M.I.