How to Calculate Snow Loads on a 2 x 6
- 1). Count the number of 2 x 6 boards that the snow load rests upon. Suppose the surface comprises 30 boards.
- 2). Pack down and mold the snow drift so that it has the shape of a rectangular box.
- 3). Determine the length, width and height of the box of snow in centimeters. As an illustration of this concept, assume a length of 500.0 cm, a width of 200.0 cm and a height of 40.0 cm.
- 4). Change the dimensions of the snow box to meters by dividing by 100, because a meters equals 100 cm. Continuing the exercise, you have a length of 5.0 m, a width of 2.0 m and a height of 0.4 m.
- 5). Multiply the length by the width by the height to obtain the volume of the snow box in cubic meters. Performing this step consists of multiplying 5.0 m times 2.0 m times 0.4 m, for a volume of 4.0 cubic meters.
- 6). Multiply the volume by the density of snow to get the mass. Now you have 4.0 cubic meters times 100 kg per cubic meter, which equals 400.0 kg.
- 7). Multiply the mass in kilograms by 2.2046 to convert to a weight in pounds. This step yields 400.0 kg times 2.2046 lb. per kg which equals a weight of 881.8 lbs.
- 8). Divide the weight of the total snow load by the number of 2 x 6s to obtain the load on a single board. Completing the example, you have 881.8 lbs. divided by 30, or a load per board of 29.4 lbs.
