TL;DR
Roof snow load is the design weight of accumulated snow a roof structure must carry, derived from the mapped ground snow value for the site and adjusted for slope, exposure, thermal condition, and drifting per ASCE 7. Figures range from 20 pounds per square foot across much of the country to triple digits in mountain and snow-belt zones, and the local building department publishes the governing number.
What it means
Roof snow load is the design weight of accumulated snow a roof structure must carry, derived from the mapped ground snow value for the site and adjusted for slope, exposure, thermal condition, and drifting per ASCE 7. Figures range from 20 pounds per square foot across much of the country to triple digits in mountain and snow-belt zones, and the local building department publishes the governing number. Shed and pole-barn truss orders are placed against it, since an underbuilt roof shows up the first hard winter.
Where it sits in the glossary
Roof snow load is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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