Inspecting Snow Loads at the Schools

A day after a and later a that led to its temporary evacuation, officials climbed the roofs of Sandy Hook and Newtown Middle schools Thursday to inspect the snow load.

Board of Education chairman Bill Hart said he asked Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson and district facilities director Gino Faiella to organize the inspection, which included a structural engineer and the town’s chief building official.

Hart said he wanted to be extra careful, particularly because problems had been identified at other schools in the region, .

“We’re triple checking,” Hart said.

Several weeks ago, after major snowfall started pounding the region, workers had already begun removing snow at all of the schools where it had begun piling up.

But with the multiple storms and football fields of roof space, some areas still had a few inches of ice and snow layers as of Thursday. By Saturday, most of the work should be done, Faiella said.

None of the roofs appeared to be in danger at the moment, though measurements taken Thursday showed at least in one case, more snow removal likely needs to be done before another major storm moves through.

The inspection started at Sandy Hook School at 8 a.m. before classes began. Hart, Faiella, Chief Building Official John Poeltl and Monroe-based structural engineer Tom DiBlasi climbed a hatch ladder hidden in one of the school’s storage closets to reach the flat roof.

Much of the roof gleamed as sunlight bounced off some patches of ice. Nearly all of the snow was gone, except for one slightly pitched roof area where the group headed. DiBlasi carried with him a yardstick, bucket, scale and shovel.

At two  snowy areas – one fully exposed to sun and another with more shade on it – DiBlasi dug a 1-foot by 1-foot square hole and carefully scooped the snow into the bucket. Placing the bucket full of snow on the scale, he measured it and then deducted the weight of the bucket from the figure.

The weight of what was removed from the 1 square-foot hole, when taken with the depth, gave him the density of the snow.

DiBlasi then went to different corners of the roof along the eaves and measured the depth at all of those spots, which came out to between 10 and 16 inches of snow depending on whether it was a sunny area.

Using the calculated density, he was able to determine the snow load equaled about 20 to 25 pounds per square foot depending on the spot. Those measurements were well under the acceptable level, he said.

“The roof was probably designed for 30 pounds,” DiBlasi said. “On that basis, the building is safe to occupy.”

With more sun for Friday and little in the way of significant snow in the forecast, the load is likely to lighten with every passing day, he said.

“With the magnitude of the load that is up there, I have no concern at all,” DiBlasi said.

At the much larger Newtown Middle School, the roofs were much more spacious. Although many areas had been cleared of snow, the wind had begun piling up snow along some edges.

Here the snow measurements were more – 13 inches deep at one spot and 16.5 inches at another.

At one spot, the weight came to 24 pounds per square foot, which was within the acceptable range but close enough to the upper end that DiBlasi and the others said workers should be called to do overtime snow removal on Saturday.

“We’re not done with winter so we might get another snowfall,” DiBlasi said. “If we’re over 25 (pounds per square feet), the ability to withstand another snow storm is questionable.”

While the group ended the inspections at the middle school, Faiella, who is trained to take the measurements, said he already had gone around to the remaining schools that still have significant snow on their roofs and performed similar calculations.

For instance, at Hawley School, the old part of the building had no snow while the newer sections had about 20 pounds per square-foot, Faiella said.

Middle Gate School had one area behind the gymnasium that had large amounts of snow drifts but that section has since been cleared, with the remaining areas consisting of about 12 to 15 inches of snow and about 18 to 19 pounds per square foot, Faiella said.

At Head O' Meadow, the measurements had come in at about 16 to 17 inches of snow with the weight measuring more than 20 pounds per square foot, but work is going on between now and the end of the weekend to clear the rest of that snow, Faiella said.

Workers also were at Newtown High School clearing the atrium and front lobby areas, Faiella said in a phone interview on Friday, adding he was about to head to the roof to take some measurements.

Later on Friday, Faiella said the measurements indicated that the snow load measured between 21 to 30 pounds in the main original building and 29 to 32 in the A wing of the original building. DiBlasi recommended that workers on Saturday begin removing snow from the A wing first before moving to the main building, Faiella said.

Reed Intermediate School has a pitched roof with minimal snow on it, officials said.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with measurements taken from Newtown High School.