Building a new home in snow country - things to consider

Will your new home be in snow country?

If so, two of the things you need to consider are where you'll put the snow when it's removed from your driveway - and where it will fall when it comes off your roof.

This winter has been especially snowy for some of us. Here in Northern Idaho we had about four feet on the ground and the piles where it came off the roof reached nearly eight feet high, in spite of periodic removal.

Before long, we were driving in tunnels, both down our County roads and on our own property.

We were lucky, our driveway is bordered by grassy areas, so we were able to hire someone with a bulldozer to come in and move it back far enough to let us get to the house. But some of our neighbors weren't so fortunate. Once the snow got deep, the only way they could get to their garage was to begin using a snow blower big enough to shoot it over the berms.

Why? Because their landscaping includes beautiful rock walls that hem in the driveway.

And then there were the people who couldn't get to their front door once the snow begin to slide from the roof. With snow coming from both the house and the garage directly in front of the door. They tried shoveling to keep up, but before the end of January, the pile was well over 6' tall. They had run out of somewhere to throw the snow they shoveled!

Still others spent every day shoveling their decks, because they feared that the tons of snow coming from the roof would collapse them.

And of course, there were those whose roofs collapsed. Building codes generally call for specific snow loads, but a good contractor in snow country will usually advise beefing it up a bit - just to be on the safe side.

So, as you plan your new home, think about snow. Not every winter is this severe, but when it happens, it's a situation to be reckoned with.

Talk this over with your builder, and adjust your house plans accordingly if you plan to build in snow country. It could make the difference between enjoying the beauty of a snowfall and gritting your teeth over more shoveling - of decks, driveways, and roofs!

Your builder can advise about this and many other details - if you choose the right one. But choosing the wrong one is easy to do if you don't know what to watch out for. Save yourself some trouble and send for our free report: How to Spot a Bogus Contractor.