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Houses built in areas which typically get a lot of snow have roofs designed at a slope so that that snow will just slide right off. But if a storm piles a lot of snow on the roof, there's more than one reason why it needs to be removed with a roof rake.

If you live in an area where you get a lot of snow, you probably give a great deal of thought to getting rid of the snow that accumulates on your sidewalks and in your driveway. But that's a relatively easy task - get out the old shovel or snow blower and have at it.

But a simple task as shoveling one's sidewalk is not always as easy as its cracked up to be. Snow is very heavy, and if you go at the process of its removal too enthusiastically with a shovel you can get a back-ache or blisters on your hands. And at least a handful of people a year lose a finger to a snow blower blade because they reach in with their hand to clear a jam, rather than using a long-handled broom handle.

Sidewalks are flat - there's no way to get around shoveling them after a heavy snowfall. But what about your roof? Most houses in areas that get a lot of snow have inclined roofs so that the snow just slides off. However, there are occasions when snow accumulate on your roof, and because snow is so heavy it simply must be removed before it does serious damage to that roof. Even if you know that your roof was built to withstand all that weight - there's another reason why it should be removed. Melting snow can cause icedams in your gutters...so that as more snow melts the water has nowhere to go except into your ceilings.

Don't Climb On Your Roof

Even if you're able to get out onto your roof during the middle of winter - it would be best if you didn't do it. Climbing around a dry roof is hard enough - trying to walk up and down a sloping roof covered with snow - which might be obscuring the ice below it - is the height of folly...and falling.

The solution is a roof rake, which you operate from the ground.

Safety first

Whatever roof rake you use - do not use it near power lines. Let me repeat that - do not use it anywhere near power lines. Even if you're a dozen feet away from a power line, if you lose control of the rake for any reason, it's length is such that it could quite easily tilt over those dozen feet, hit the power line, and give the operator quite an unpleasant shock, to say the least.

Various Models

There are quite a few snow rakes on the market. The Minnesnowta Roof Razor is one design that is built and sold out of the state of Minnesota - and what native Minnesotans don't know about protecting their homes from snow isn't worth knowing.

The RoofRake enables the operator to reach up over 26 feet, which should be more than enough to get most of the snow off one's roof.

Like the other designs, the Philips Snowcutter cuts through ice and snow, but protects the roof shingles by not allowing the rake to actually touch the roof itself. Philips claims that their snowcutter can clear a roof in half the time it takes a roof rake.

So check out the web, check out your local stores, and then get yourself a tool well-suited to ensuring that your roof and house suffer no damage during the next winter storm.