Spray foam roofing in Whitecourt has to be assessed against a condition that does not apply to the open parts of the province: on a sheltered treed site the snow that lands on a low-slope roof in November is still there in March, because there is nothing moving across it to take it away.
Snow that accumulates instead of clearing
On an exposed site wind keeps a flat roof relatively clear and moves the load to the lee side. In the shelter of standing timber it simply builds, evenly, all winter. That is a steady structural load rather than a drifting one, it is heavier by the end of the season than most owners picture, and it means anything added to the roof has to be justified against a structure already carrying more than a roof in open country does.
A covering that goes over the existing build-up has to earn its weight
The attraction of covering rather than stripping is that it avoids a tear-off, and on a roof already carrying several layers and half a winter of snow, weight is precisely the thing to be careful about. What is on the deck is established by a test cut before anything is priced, and where the build-up is already deep the correct answer is frequently to take it off rather than add to it, whatever that does to the price of the job.
The drift where a tall section meets a low one
Where a building steps, and most industrial buildings here do, snow coming off the higher roof lands on the lower one and stays. That produces a deep band along one line, which is both a load and a place where meltwater sits against a wall all winter. It is the detail most likely to fail on a Whitecourt building, and any assessment worth having looks at the step before it looks at the field of the roof.
What has to be right before any covering goes on
A deck that is dry, drainage that actually works, and a structure with no low spot holding water. Applying a seamless covering over a roof failing any of those hides the problem rather than fixing it, and on a building carrying a full winter of snow that is not a small matter. Establishing all three costs an afternoon and it decides whether this is the right system for the roof at all.
Spray Foam Roofing Whitecourt: Common Questions
Is snow that never comes off the roof a problem? On a sheltered site it does not. It accumulates all winter and that is a real structural load.
Can we go over what is there? Only if the deck is sound and the weight is justified. A test cut answers it before pricing.
Where do these roofs fail? Usually where a taller section steps down to a lower one and the snow off it piles against a wall.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Whitecourt quote. More on Spray Foam Roofing Alberta.