Concern about the potential for a roof collapse has prompted the St. Albert Senior Citizens' Club to do some preventative snow clearing.
Local seniors have been concerned ever since a seniors' choir narrowly escaped injury when the roof collapsed at the Northgate Lions Seniors' Recreation Centre gym in Edmonton Tuesday.
"It's certainly a concern because this building is so over-utilized," said Leslie MacEachern, executive director of the St. Albert centre.
"The day that the roof caved in in Edmonton at the seniors' club there were 140 bridge players at a tournament here. If that had happened here it could have been horrible."
The club hired a roofing expert to inspect its roof and his findings warranted some snow clearing, which was scheduled to start Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.
The club did experience a roof collapse back in 1999. The organization is currently planning to address issues such as leakage that were identified during a 2008 engineering inspection, but MacEachern isn't concerned about the safety of the facility.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't feel safe," she said.
City and schools not concerned
At least three other roof incidents made the news within the last week, including a Brick furniture store in Leduc on Wednesday, a shop in Spruce Grove last Friday and Habitat for Humanity's ReStore shop, which came close to collapsing last week.
The City of St. Albert oversees 11 flat-roofed buildings and has been monitoring conditions daily for the last two weeks, said Chris Richards, acting manager of asset management.
Roofs have between 12 and 20 inches of snow buildup, which isn't a concern, Richards said. Where needed, city workers are manually keeping roof vents and drains clear of ice and snow, he said.
"One of the nice things about flat roofs is the wind helps us, it blows a lot of it off," Richards said. "We are more concerned about our sloped roofs, the metal slopes. We've been busy keeping them clear because they can sometimes slide off."
St. Albert Protestant Schools has employees on its roofs regularly and they shovel off any trouble spots they find, said facilities services manager Al Olsen. The district sees no reason to implement a wholesale clearing of its flat-roofed schools.
"Nobody really likes to see some of the stories in the news but I remain pretty confident that we've got good structures," Olsen said.
Don't panic
Roofer Alan Fraser of St. Albert's Can-Alta Roofing agreed there's "no need to panic" and clear off every flat roof.
"I don't do that because that is a make-work industry," he said.
Flat roofs are all different and each must be inspected for signs of problems, such as a significant buildup of water and slush that create excessive weight, he said.
"If they're stepping in four to six inches of slush beneath three feet of snow, that's a problem. That roof is under stress and removing the snow will help," Fraser said.
"If vents are overcome with snow, you need to find them and you need to uncover them so they can breathe. Everything up there has a purpose."
On sloped, shingled roofs, excessive icicle buildup is a sign that ice dams are forming under the snow on the roof. These dams can force moisture under the shingles and into the building, Fraser said. His advice is to clear the snow off the lowest 24 inches of roof, at least, but avoid scraping the shingles because this can damage them and reduce their life.
Overall, Fraser trusts the engineers and architects who design our buildings.
"I have a lot of faith in them," he said. "I'm in the construction industry and they're pretty smart dudes."
