Roof Snow Removal in Gretna

More than the airport records. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for its Gretna 4NE station add up to 36.4 inches a year: 7.8 in December, 8.6 in January, 10.9 in February and 5.4 in March. Omaha's normal at Eppley Airfield is 27.1.

February is the month to watch. Snow that falls on snow that has already settled is the heavy kind: the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety says more than 2 feet of old snow may be too much for a roof, and two feet of old snow under two feet of new can weigh as much as 60 pounds per square foot.

The City of Gretna's permit questions list roofing projects that involve no rafters and no more than one sheet of new or replaced decking among the work that needs no permit, with a note: ice shield must be installed. Ice shield is the membrane under the shingles at the eaves that the Department of Energy describes as an extra layer against leaks when ice dams form.

Permit applications are taken at the city office at 204 North McKenna Avenue. A job that touches rafters, or more decking than that, goes through the city first.

Newer than most of the metro's. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2019 to 2023 five-year estimates) puts the median year Gretna's housing was built at 2003. About 60 percent of the city's homes were built in 2000 or later, a quarter of them since 2010, and only about 22 percent before 1980.

A new roof is built for the code's load, but stacked storms in a town with a 36.4 inch normal can still pass it, and new materials can still be damaged. A builder or manufacturer warranty usually wants the damage and the repair documented, and we photograph what we find. On a newer house the more common winter problem is an ice dam, which the University of Minnesota Extension traces to heat from the house warming the upper roof.

Our crews steam ice dams at the eaves instead of chipping them, so the shingles and the ice shield under them are not struck. If water is coming in now, catch it, photograph it and call; the ice dam removal page covers what comes next, from drying out to sealing the attic so the next dam does not form.

Low slopes, lower roofs a drift can blow onto, and anything a drift piles against. OSHA notes that a roof's snow load depends on drifting, the roof's slope and its design, not only on the snow on the ground, and that snow removed unevenly can load one part of a roof more than the rest. The warning signs guide says what strain looks like, and the roof snow removal page explains how a roof is cleared safely.

Gretna is in Sarpy County, and our Papillion office at 110 N Washington St handles the towns near it; our headquarters is in Omaha. Office hours are 9 to 5, and during storms and emergencies we take night and weekend calls. Call us at (402) 291-8888. The roof check after the snow is free, with photos and an estimate in writing, and the Gretna page covers the rest of our work there, commercial roofs near Nebraska Crossing included.