Making a metal roof safe to walk on, and preventing snow slides.

Hi there,

We have an existing dark brown standing seam metal roof on a two storey 3/12 pitch house with cathedral ceilings and and airspace, 23" of blown-in insulation and vapour barrier below. We're planning an addition right now and plan to use metal again with the same pitch and construction methods. We have two issues I would love to find solutions for:

The first is that we have ridiculous amounts of snow (East Coast of Canada) and some impressive(ly dangerous) snow shedding events in the winter. Below most of the slopes we're planning to put roofs over the decks to hopefully prevent humans and animals from being crushed, but in one section this isn't possible. I'll build a sturdy arbor if I have to, but reading your forums I came across the snowgripit.com product. Has anyone here actually used it? It's presence online looks very scant and dubious and I'm looking for any reassurance that it would be worth trying.

The second is that for fire escape and maintenance purposes I would love the roof to be safer to walk on. My husband is totally the kind of guy who would fall off a roof if given half a chance and if the kids don't try to sneak out I'd be disappointed in them - I'd rather they didn't break their necks doing it. My previous homes had asphalt shingles but metal is our preference. So, the snowgripit would solve this problem too, but I'm open to any and all suggestions to either issue.

I haven't seen it used or have any experience with it.

I would defer to the more know commodities when it comes to snow retention and just about any roof is going to be unsafe to walk when it is wet. That said, a throw rope or some sort of anchor point inside the home would probably give you most of the additional security that you would need to walk the home.