Tried that '24 hour snow removal' trick on my roof and it backfired hard

I saw a post about spraying Pam cooking spray on your roof before a storm to make snow slide off. Did it last Tuesday morning before the big one hit, and now half my shingles are mangled and I got a leak in the mudroom. Any roofers here dealt with this or am I just the dummy who believed Facebook again?

4 comments

4 Comments

beng5115d agoTop Commenter

Man, Pam cooking spray on a roof? That is probably one of the wildest things I have ever heard. The fact that the snow slid off and took the shingles with it is honestly not that surprising when you think about it. That stuff is basically just oil and it has to make the shingles super slick and loose. I'm just trying to picture you up there with a can of Pam, spraying away like it's a giant baking pan. That leak in the mudroom is a real tough way to learn that lesson, but I gotta say, that's a legendary story.

aliceharris14d ago

Hah, right? I mean, I've heard of people using cooking spray on snow shovels or something but on the actual roof? That's a whole other level of DIY that just went sideways. So I gotta ask though, what did the roof look like after all that snow came off? Was it just bare wood or did the shingles rip off in chunks? I'm trying to picture the aftermath and it sounds like a total mess.

kevin_williams14d ago

Wait, are you telling me the Pam actually made the shingles come off? I gotta be honest, I always figured that stuff was harmless, like just a little water repellent or something. I used to think people were being dramatic about roof care, like just let the snow slide off naturally, what's the big deal. But hearing that the whole roof basically peeled away with the snow... yeah, that changed my mind completely. That's not just a bad idea, that's a full on disaster waiting to happen. I guess you really can't cut corners with that kind of stuff, no matter how simple it seems.

blair99014d ago

beng51 said it was "legendary" but I'm more interested in the practical side. When you say the snow took the shingles with it, was it the whole shingle that came off or did it rip the top layer off and leave the base? I've seen what happens when ice dams pull gutters down, but this sounds different. Did you notice if the Pam pooled up in certain spots before the snow hit, or did you just spray a light mist over everything?