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Roof line ideas for snow country?


Djmc2002

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Looking for ideas on how to put lights along my roofline specifically the peak of my roof (that runs parallel to the gutters) looking to frame the edges of the roof up to the roofline essentially creating a rectangle on the roof line/edges. The problem I have is not uncommon in my area to have a foot or two of snow standing on the roof during the month when my show. is up. I'm sure this is not a new problem so I'm looking for ideas of what others have done to put the lights along the roofline and keep them up out of the snow. (most obvious idea is moving to a climate where it doesn't snow but sadly I can't make that happen)

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Hey DJMC2002-

I too have run into similar issues as I am less than 70 Miles South of you in Saratoga Springs.  I agree that using bright lights helps to shine through the snow and I like it better personally.  Every year I do a new "Scene" on my roof made of lights.  I have found that using incandescent lights helps to melt some of the snow since they tend to get warm when you leave them on.  I used LED strip lights around the edges this year and they didn't do a very good job of melting the snow,  but because they were bright they showed through nicely.  I would also turn on the roof lights during the warmest part of the day to help melt some of the surrounding snow.  I did this a little more this year as it was my first year using LOR so the lights weren't on for 5 hours straight every day like they were in the past.  I've tried to find a pic where there is  a lot of snow on the roof, but I think I took them before the big storms.

I can't figure out how to post a link to my Videos/Photos so if you search Engh-Lights in Vimeo you can see what I did on the roof, and like I said every year the Scene is something different.

Overall I haven't had any serious issues with too much snow covering the lights. 

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I do not add lights to the peak of my house because you couldn't see the lights. If you have ample power then for the roof use C7 incandescent lights & those do help melt the snow. They are bright enough. Make a frame as you said but raise it up 12" for the peak. Make the frame out of black pvc pipe & attach the lights to the frame. Attaching the frame to the roof is another matter.

 

Here where we live in Edmonton, Alberta Canada we use a snow roof rake & pull the snow off. That would help you out. I wish I could be of better help.

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I spent a lot of time making some 8" snow shoes (can be seen in my pictures below)  in 2012. The idea worked ..........but the wife thought the whole setup was ugly as seen during the day, so they went in the scrap heap.   This year I made some 4" in a different configuration and they worked until we got snow in the 6"-8" range. Not the final version but can be seen at  about 5:50 in this video.  I plan on getting a little video of my behind the scene done shortly with the final version of my shoes.  As the snow did seem to taper at the edges and peak of the roof when we got over 4", my light were still visible till the general depth was 8".  My Marty fan did get buried, but was visible with a 1 or 2 inches of snow on top.

 

Steve

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Steve,

 

Your idea of under the soffet mounted lights inspired me to duplicate.  Thank you!

 

I'd love to see better pics of your snow shoes.  They are briefly shown in the vid, can we get a better look?

 

dave

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Steve,

 

Your idea of under the soffet mounted lights inspired me to duplicate.  Thank you!

 

I'd love to see better pics of your snow shoes.  They are briefly shown in the vid, can we get a better look?

 

dave

Dave

 I'll let you know as soon as I get some pics posted..............your request will help motivate me.............

I just shot a short video from the roof on Saturday as I had a short time slot before the snow started again in the afternoon.

 

Sometime soon I will get the rest of the lights down!!!!!

 

Steve

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