Every Edina winter produces the same two calls: the ones who see the ice early, and the ones who see the ceiling stain first. As part of our complete Edina winter roof services, crews handle crane-assisted snow removal across Hennepin County.
Snow Bands, Warm Attics and the Edina Eave
What makes Hennepin County roofs dam is not the seasonal total, it is how the snow arrives. Bands dump a heavy, saturated pack in hours, and that pack becomes a water reservoir sitting on a heated surface.
Then the temperature swings. Lake-effect regions cycle hard either side of freezing, and each cycle moves meltwater down to a cold eave and locks it there. The dam grows by a layer every time, and the water behind it rises with it.
Ice-barrier practice in Hennepin County
Lake-belt jurisdictions in Minnesota have enforced eave membrane on re-roof permits for a long time. The roofs that leak are, almost without exception, the ones that have not been touched since before that.
Crane-Assisted Snow Removal in Edina: How The Work Runs
Reach, radius and why the chart decides
Capacity falls away sharply with radius. A machine that lifts comfortably at thirty feet may be well short of the same load at eighty, which is why the far corner of a large deck sometimes needs a bigger crane rather than a longer day. Ceiling Sagging or Bulging After Snow.
The chart is run before the quote, so the number given is for a machine that can actually reach the whole roof in Edina rather than most of it.
How a pick actually works
Rip-stop tarps are laid out and anchored on the deck, crews load them, and the boom lifts each loaded tarp clear and sets it down in a designated drop zone on the ground. Outrigger pads are placed on frozen ground rated for the load, and a pedestrian exclusion zone is set and marshalled for the whole operation.
It is a planned lift, not an improvisation. Site access, swing radius, overhead lines, drop zone and ground bearing all get walked before the first tarp goes down.
Wind limits and when a pick gets postponed
Every crane has a wind chart, and a tarp full of snow is about the worst possible load to put on a hook in a gust - large surface area, light enough to sail, heavy enough to hurt. The limit is lower than people expect and it is not negotiable.
A Edina pick that is cancelled for wind gets rescheduled rather than argued about. The alternative is a swinging load over an occupied building.
Documenting the load for the carrier
Depths, densities, calculated loads and dated photographs are recorded through the operation. Most carriers treat preventing an imminent structural failure as loss mitigation, which is a very different claim from one filed after a deck comes down.
That record is what supports it, and it only exists if somebody took the readings at the time.
What goes in the tarp and what does not
A pick lifts loose and broken snow. It does not lift a solid sheet of ice frozen to the membrane, and trying to make it do so is how a tarp takes the roof covering with it.
So the sequence is crews cutting and breaking the pack into liftable material, the crane moving it, and steam dealing with whatever is bonded to the surface. The crane is the transport, not the demolition.
What you get in Edina
- Weights documentedDepths, densities and loads recorded for the carrier
- Outrigger padsBearing pads sized and placed for frozen and uneven ground
- Permits handledPulled where the municipality requires them for a street setup
| Local ice-barrier practice | Eave membrane expected on re-roofs |
|---|---|
| Dispatch window | Same day to 24 hours |
| Typical scope | Steam, 6-12 crew hours typical |
| Pricing model | Billed by the crew hour, rate quoted before dispatch |
| Documentation | Dated before and after photos, written scope in Xactimate line items |
| Coverage area | Edina and Hennepin County |
| Primary climate stressor | Lake-effect bands, wet heavy pack |
Where We Dispatch Around Edina
Crews working Edina cover the adjoining communities on the same route — Saint Louis Park, Mendota, Wayzata, Navarre and Excelsior — so a storm week usually means one truck handling several addresses in Hennepin County rather than separate trips.
Nearest hub towns with their own crane snow removal pages: St. Louis Park, Richfield, Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Hopkins, Minnetonka.
During a cold snap Edina gets worked alongside the neighboring Hennepin County towns on the same route, with active interior leaks moved to the front of the list.
Most jobs do not stop at one service. Crane Snow Removal in Edina often runs alongside commercial roof snow removal in Edina, and both get written into one scope rather than billed as separate visits.
Active leak right now? Our 24/7 Edina steam ice dam removal crews are dispatched first during a freeze event. Call (888) 561-9664.
