Snow Guards Help Protect Parishioners at South Dakota Church

In Spearfish, South Dakota, the average snowfall is 70.5 inches a year. So, when Weather-Tite Exteriors was hired to reroof St. Joseph Catholic Church in the western part of the state, they knew a critical part of the project would be adding a dependable snow retention system.

The church itself has 740 families, so protecting them was the highest priority for the Weather–Tite Exteriors crew. The project was extensive. It included removing batten metal panels from the large sanctuary roof plus the office and fellowship hall.

Once the old roof was removed, the skilled team installed 12 squares of TPO membrane followed by 173 squares of Vermont Slate Hail Proof EuroShield roofing. The synthetic roofing is made from 95% recycled rubber tires. A comprehensive snow guard system was a crucial component in the redesign of the roof. As he has for the past seven years, Nick Hildebrand, project manager at Weather-Tite Exteriors in Rapid City, South Dakota, turned to Rocky Mountain Snow Guards for a solution.

Snow Retention System

“We always rely on Rocky Mountain Snow Guards to recommend the snow retention products that will work the best with our projects,” says Hildebrand. “In this case it was the Yeti 18 in a Dark Bronze finish to complement the roof. These snow guards were installed over the entire church roof, with the exception of the low-sloped areas, to help prevent avalanching of melting snows on the people and property. The Yeti products were easy to work with and are made with high-quality materials. We hope to continue growing our relationship with the Yeti products and Rocky Mountain Snow Guards for years to come.”

Created with an appealing gusseted half round design, the Yeti Series of snow guards can handle loads in excess of 800 pounds. The .40-inch-thick aluminum snow guards combine greater strength and a larger pad area like the company’s RG snow guards with the half-round style of their ST snow guards.

Yeti snow guards feature a flange around the pad face to hold snow in place so it can’t slide side to side. With the flange included, the face area of the Yeti is more than five square inches. The snow guards come in five different series (6 inches, 9 inches, 11 inches, 18 inches, and 11inch Tile Hook) for use with asphalt, metal, concrete, tile and synthetic roofing. All Yeti products are available in pre-coated and custom powder coated aluminum, plus copper.

“We installed 1,975 of the Yeti 18 snow guards on this church project,” says Hildebrand. “Rocky Mountain Snow Guards took our roof profile and did a free product placement take off. We knew exactly where to install the snow guards for maximum effectiveness.”

“St. Joseph Catholic Church is very pleased with the roof and the snow retention system,” Hildebrand continues. “Yeti is now our ‘go to’ snow guard, and Rocky Mountain Snow Guards is our company for any type of snow guard needs in the future.”

TEAM

Roofing Contractor: Weather-Tite Exteriors LLC, Rapid City, South Dakota, weathertite.com

MATERIALS

Roof System: Vermont Slate HP, EuroShield, euroshieldroofing.com

Snow Guards: Yeti 18, Rocky Mountain Snow Guards, rockymountainsnowguards.com