Building a roof with wood shakes works well in moist colder climates as they don t dry out from the snow.
Roof slope for snow.
The slope that works best seems to be 5 12.
Intuitively this is the number of inches of snow on your roof in the place where the cover is the thickest.
If your roof is pitched enter the length and width of the flat area covered by the roof.
At these slopes snow creeps rather than slides and is easy to manage.
On roof slopes between 4 12 and 6 12 rough textured roofing materials work best.
There are some opinions that standing seam metal roof minimum slope is 12 but it increases the possibility of leaking on the few first days of snow arrival.
In country with heavy snow and tough winter days the metal roof minimum slope is recommended to be 1 12.
They then have the option of putting dormers on the roof without damage to the valleys penetrations lower roofs and property below due to sliding snow and ice.
You can enter this value either as a ratio x 12 or as an angle whichever suits you better.
This allows the snow to stay on while venting the roof system.
Roof slopes lower than 4 12 tend to perform well with metal roofs which are less prone to leakage and ice dam formation.
If you live in a climate with cold winters and numerous snow storms a pitched roof will prevent the snow from remaining on the top of your home.