VersaGard™

Yes—any product should be—including those sold by other companies. Everything has a failure point, which is why products are tested. The idea, then, is not to expose a product to forces which exceed its known point of failure. These forces are predictable and can be calculated accurately for any application. Ask your distributor for assistance or try our Snow Guard Calculator.

We are often asked how to use the Snow Guard Calculator when using our ColorGard system combined with VersaBrackets or CorruBrackets for face-fastened roof systems rather than clamps on standing seams. This can be a bit confusing because these products are not listed as options when using the calculator. The reason for this is these brackets have different holding strengths depending upon the substrate or structure, so this information needs to be entered manually.  We will describe this process below using our load test charts. 

You will be using the ultimate load data for parallel load tests from our website (https://s-5.com/resources/load-test-results/exposed-fastened/). After this information is entered, the calculator will perform normally, calculating the number of rows required according to the spacing of the brackets entered (although it will appear as "clamps" not "brackets"). It will also refer to the bracket spacing entered as "seam spacing."  If you encounter any issues during this process, please reach out to [email protected]. (This is not the entire answer).

Our online Snow Guard Calculator is a very helpful tool when designing a snow retention system but has a max limit of a 12:12 (45º) pitch. In the event the roof is steeper than 12:12, hand-math is required to properly engineer a system. The force of snow on any rooftop can be mathematically calculated—and should be—for any snow guard system. It is the same math that runs our online calculator. (not complete answer).

Often we are asked to provide localized snow guard systems (snow retention systems) over one or more entrance ways rather than protecting the entire eave line of a standing seam metal roof. In limited cases this can be done, but extreme caution is advised.

It is very difficult to predict how snow banks will shear when only a portion of the bank is restrained. It will not, however, shear in a straight line from the end of the snow retention system (also known as snow guard) up to the ridge. This is a certainty. Rather, it will shear in a diagonal line toward the ridge. The angle of that line becomes more acute as the slope of the metal roof increases, resulting in a large, wedge-shaped bank of snow being supported by the system -- not a small, rectangular shaped bank. This is because the snow bank has cohesive strength within itself. The cohesive strength varies with the density and temperature of the snow bank, which always changes. Hence, the angle of shear is impossible to determine with any certainty. (Not full answer)