Talking about snow and property insurance

Good afternoon bloggers!

Since we are getting some significant snow here in Maryland today, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about how relates to another service we offer, farm and property insurance. It's one thing to have peace of mind knowing that your four-legged friends are insured and taken care of. However, what about the barn that houses them, or your indoor arena where you exercise them in times of bad weather?

Many people know that heavy amounts of snow or ice can cause property damage. However, what do you do if your barn collapses from snow? Or your indoor arena? Here is a great article on how excessive snow can cause these problems, and what you can do about it.

Excessive Snow Load Can Cause Your Barn to Collapse

When heavy snow meets fierce winds, even the best-engineered buildings can collapse. That’s why it’s important to be adequately insured for this type of peril.

How snow load can damage your buildings 
Snow load is the downward force on a building’s roof by the weight of accumulated snow and ice. The roof or the entire structure can fail if the snow load exceeds the weight the building was designed to shoulder, or if the building was poorly designed or constructed. It doesn't take a blizzard to cause problems; an imbalance of drifting snow can cause one part of a roof to give, causing a domino effect that affects the rest of the structure.

“Wood structures typically will give a warning of imminent failure with audible creaking or visible bowing of rafters,” says Randy Tinker, P.E., Risk Management Property Engineer, Property Engineering Group, Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company, Des Moines, Iowa. “Metal structures, unfortunately, often don’t exhibit signs of stress before failure.” Farmers need to keep a close watch on structures with heavy loads and be prepared to move livestock and equipment to safer quarters.

How much snow is too much?
Calculating the snow load on your barn takes more than an educated guess. The University of Wisconsin

Cooperative Extension Service says that a ballpark estimate of snow load can be made with the following formula:

Calculated Roof Loading (lb/ft2) = Depth (ft) x Density (lb/ft2 /ft depth). The approximate density (lb/ft2 /ft depth) for light snow is 5-20, packed snow 20-40, packed snow with ice 40-58, and ice 58.

For example, a roof with 3 feet of light snow has an estimated roof load of 60 pounds per square foot (3 ft depth X 20 lb/ft2/ft depth density = 60 lb/ft2). You should know the roof weight limits for your barns and outbuildings, and rebuild or fortify them to withstand worst-case scenario snow loads and meet local building standards.

What you can do
Some failures can be prevented with careful snow removal. The University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension Service offers the following suggestions:

-Use caution if standing on the roof, making sure to wear a safety harness and use securing ladders.
-Use a snow rake, and avoid chipping or picking away at ice as that may damage the roof.
-Remove snow in narrow strips to keep the load somewhat even.
-Not all snow needs to be removed. A thin layer of snow can protect the roof from damage while snow is being removed.

Insurance checklist

A few minutes can give you reassurance during a heavy-snow winter. Check with your farm or ranch insurance agent to:

-Confirm that your property insurance covers roof or building failure due to snow load
-Make sure the policy pays for actual replacement costs, so you’re not out in the cold if you have to rebuild
-Verify that valuable equipment stored in a barn or outbuilding is covered under your farm personal property endorsement.


1 Agriculture has the second highest fatality rate among youth workers at 21.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalents compared to 3.6 per 100,000 across all industries. Occupational Injuries and Deaths Among Younger Workers-United States, 1998-2007. Journal of the American Medical Association, 304 (1). 33-35 (2010). 
This information was obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Nationwide Agribusiness/Farmland Mutual Insurance Company and its employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with any suggestions or information contained herein. Furthermore, it cannot be assumed that every acceptable safety method is included in this article or that specific circumstances may not require additional methods or alternative safety suggestions. Also, nothing contained herein is meant to represent or indicate compliance with applicable standards or requirements mandated by federal, state or local jurisdictions.