Do yourself a favor and put some oversize washers on the bolt that goes through the head where the brace attaches (think fender washers but not too big-small hole for the bolt and plenty of coverage) . That will help the metal not tear at the head. Mine eventually started to tear but I caught it early enough with the washers and saved me from buying a new head.
I have never shoveled my own roof. Between the lack of insulation and the abundant wood heat, the roof melts off within a day or two of snow. See, there are benefits to poor insulation. My ceiling upstairs is r13. Code around here now is r38. That being said, last year I shoveled one shallow pitched area on mom and dad's house last year. I also filled several dump trucks by hand from the roofs of a large dairy farm we do maintenance at. Metal roofs, but at some areas there was 5 or more feet drifted. This is a 2000 head operation, so plenty of roofs.
I have shoveled the roof already. It's more of a piece of mind thing, but we have had snows deep enough where it was needed. Our roof is only slightly pitched so it's safe enough walk on here in the pocono region of Pennsylvania.
Knock wood, but no problem yet on that front. The ends of the braces blew out though. When/if I do this, I'll add washers, and lock washers too.
Shoveling roofs...that's just crazy talk! Heck, I could probably get by without ever shoveling my driveway with the amount of snow we get here. My parents bought a log house from a Canadian company years ago that was shipped down here for assembly. One of the selling points was that the roof was strong enough to hold so many feet of snow (I don't remember the exact amount). Living in South west Ohio makes that a mute point.
I'm more inclined to fix the root cause than put bandaids on the problem. Bandaids are cheaper though....and less work, for sure. I've certainly considered it, since raking the roof is tiring and needs to be done every time it snows.
Jumped onto the roof as soon as I got home last evening. 4:45 and getting dark. Ended up going until 8:00 with no breaks, unless you count the two times I had to move the ladder to another roof! This morning will be finishing the garage and then of the the cottage after I deliver a snowblower for someone. There was almost waist height of snow on average, so it was time. Feel better about it with the warmer three days that are forecasted. (just don't feel too good this morning!)
Did the season's first roof raking yesterday. Only needed it done on the east roof slope 'cause our winds are westerly. Lot of lake effect snow here last week.
Dave, you just are not in the snow belt. Go 10 miles or so west and it is a different story. I well remember many times leaving Gaylord and lots and lots of snow. After decending that hill west of Atlanta, the snow about tapered off really fast. Sometimes we'd have 3' on the ground but by the time I got to Hillman, there was maybe 6" at most.
Oh yeah Dennis, we found out about the Gaylord "curtain" pretty quick. It's like the thing shuts and stops most bad weather from getting this far East.
I've raked/shoveled a few times. Last time was in Feb of 2013. 3' drifts on the front porch roof. No roof rakes to be had. I rigged up a piece of Azek vinyl trim board to a pruning pole and pushed the snow off. I am usually not too concerned unless rain is predicted. I have low pitch roofs too. Yardstick in the drift.
I've shoveled 2 roofs in my life for elderly folks in southern Maine probably back in 92-93 when we had a decent snow load on some lower pitched ranch style houses. If it gets that deep here I'll let the insurance pay for a new front porch - my main roof has enough pitch and 2x8" continuous from ridge to soffet(some long suckers)
