Lackawanna County sees the same pattern every winter: snow on the roof, warm air in the attic, and a line of ice building along the eave where the two meet. As part of our complete Scranton winter roof services, crews handle commercial roof snow removal across Lackawanna County.
Scranton Ice Dams: Wet Snow and a Thermometer That Will Not Settle
A nor'easter can load a roof in Scranton with heavy, wet snow overnight. Coastal air then swings the temperature either side of freezing for days, which is the exact condition that builds ice fastest.
The building stock compounds it. A great many Scranton houses were built long before attic air sealing was a consideration, and the retrofits that followed often insulated the floor while leaving the bypasses wide open.
Ice-barrier practice in Lackawanna County
Ice-barrier membrane at the eaves is standard on re-roofs across coastal Pennsylvania, and many towns enforce it strictly. Homes that have not been re-roofed since that became normal practice are the ones that leak first.
Commercial Roof Snow Removal in Scranton: How The Work Runs
Unbalanced loading is the real hazard
Snow does not settle evenly on a large deck. It piles against parapets, behind rooftop units, in the lee of a higher adjoining roof and in the valleys between bays. Ceiling Sagging or Bulging After Snow.
Clearing has to be balanced for the same reason. Taking it all off one bay and none off the next shifts the load rather than removing it.
Ponding after the clear
Taking the snow off a flat roof with frozen drains leaves meltwater with nowhere to go, and water that ponds and refreezes puts load back on a deck that was just relieved.
So drains and overflows are opened as part of the clear rather than afterwards, and the roof is left draining. A clear that stops at the snow is half a job.
Mid-span is where the margin runs out
Long-span steel and open-web joist roofs carry least where the drift is deepest. The average depth across the field is not the number that matters; the depth over the longest unsupported span is.
That is where crews measure on a Scranton building, and it is why two roofs with the same snowfall can be in very different trouble.
Fall protection on a deck with no anchors
Most commercial roofs have no permanent anchor points and a parapet too low to count as a guard. Working near an unprotected edge legally requires a system, and improvising one is where people get hurt.
Crews bring mobile anchors, warning lines and whatever the layout actually needs. Where the roof cannot be worked safely at all, that gets reported to the Scranton property manager as a finding, because it will be just as true during the next storm.
Drains and overflows come first
Before anything else comes off, the drains, scuppers and overflow outlets get opened. Otherwise the melt from the clearing has nowhere to go and the roof trades a snow problem for a ponding one.
On a deck in Scranton with internal drains that means confirming flow below, not just clearing the grate.
What you get in Scranton
- Portfolio routesStanding storm schedules with per-visit condition reports
- Mid-span measuredDepth read over the longest unsupported span, not the average
- One invoice per siteMulti-building properties scoped and billed together
| Documentation | Dated before and after photos, written scope in Xactimate line items |
|---|---|
| Service | Commercial Roof Snow Removal in Scranton, PA |
| Primary climate stressor | Nor'easters, rapid thaw-freeze swing |
| Coverage area | Scranton and Lackawanna County |
| Local ice-barrier practice | Eave membrane standard on re-roofs |
| Dispatch window | Same day to 24 hours |
| Typical scope | Steam, 4-10 crew hours typical |
Scranton Coverage and the Adjoining Communities
Crews working Scranton cover the adjoining communities on the same route — Moosic, Taylor, Old Forge, Duryea and Pittston — so a storm week usually means one truck handling several addresses in Lackawanna County rather than separate trips.
Nearest hub towns with their own commercial snow pages: Wilkes-Barre, Pocono Pines, Hazleton, Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown.
During a cold snap Scranton gets worked alongside the neighboring Lackawanna 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. Commercial Snow in Scranton often runs alongside crane-assisted snow removal in Scranton, and both get written into one scope rather than billed as separate visits.
Active leak right now? Our 24/7 Scranton steam ice dam removal crews are dispatched first during a freeze event. Call (888) 561-9664.
