Snow Guard Systems

Snow guards are used to retain snow and ice so that they do not slide from the edge of the roof. They reduce property damage and maintenance expenses. They must be properly engineered and designed. Team Bow-Cor worked on a roof restoration in 2020 that included new snow guards. After receiving the engineer’s plan, our drafting technologist started with the shop drawings. Once the engineers, our drafting technologist and our staff were happy with the shop drawings,  we started the fabrication in our shop. A galvanize finish followed by paint was chosen for durability. On site, all of our structural steel welds were tested by a third party to confirm quality. 

Snow guards are considered safety products therefore they are designed by engineers. It is important to consider the compatibility between the metals that are being used for the roof and for this safety system. 

There are many different styles of snow guards to chose from and they fall into two main groups:

One is the discontinuous (also known as unitized, snow cleats or pad style snow guards). This style can be single or multi components. 

The other style is the continuous type, also called rail or pipe-style snow guard. This contains at least two components: brackets or clamps that are attached to the roof and cross-members or cables that prevent the snow blanket from suddenly sliding off the roof.  

We hope this short blog post helped you to get familiar with this unique safety system used in our mountain environment.