German roofs collapsing under snow

Right then,

Two roofs have fallen now. How many more?

I see everyone sweeping their roofs.

Und?

The two roof collapses that Jeremy is refering to are the Bad Reichenhall ice rink and the Netto suppermarket in Toeging am Inn. Many of the reasons for collapse are discussed in those two topics.

Easy, jeremy. It's been snowing heavily, thawing and freezing. The snow gets heavy, the maximum tolerable weight is exceded - wroooom. You'll notice that it's mostly the flat roofs that are collapsing, not so much the traditional wide, slanted roofs.

i.e. the cheap, shit buildings.

I actually went to a school where the roof got blown off! yes blown off! not by the wolf that was after the three little pigs just normal newfoundlnad living... roofs collapsing are a bit of a fad right now, in this country. give it a couple of winters and things will change.

it really is the weather more than anything...

Actually it's more than 2:

Seems like there should be some regulation requiring buildings (esp older ones and those with flat roofs) to have inspections to make sure the roofs are up to code to withstand the weight of the snow.

At least in Munich, there was considerably more snow last year though. There hasn't been much thawing until this week either - January was permanently below zero

@mysteryman,

I live in Deggendorf and haven't heard of anything collapsing. Our arena is closed and will probably be for awhile, what exactly collapsed in Deggendorf?

The communities as owners of most of the buildings in question are fighting such a regulation hoof, teeth and nail as they would have to foot the bill.

they closed my sons' school today, it didn't collapse but they are having it inspected tommorrow

The problem is that most councils are skint. Christian Ude who is chair of the German local authorities association has said that it is federal and state governments cutting money that have resulted in poor inspections and maintenance.

I didn't draw the picture But blue dot is for "gesperrte Hallen" which means 'closed halls', so that is probably your arena then.

From br-online.de.

Well in Holzkirchen they are clearing snow off the local Schwimmbad and the school. Bit overdone I reckon as some roofs are sloping.

I read yesterday that the "TÜV für Gebäude" was rejected last week by the Kommunen or Länder, or whoever was actually responsible for passing such a law. The consensus was that it was too much bureaucracy and would cost too much.

Headline in today's TZ (which I only briefly saw) was something along the lines of "Bundeswehr räumen Dächer".

Don't forget the roof that collapsed in Poland last week as well. Also due to snow I believe.

A warehouse roof collapsed in Deggendorf. There was a photo of it in the Münchner Merkur today. They also quoted experts who said that the number of roof collapses this year is not unusual, which suggests to me that there is something wrong with the standard of buildings in the region.

Couldn't see the photo online, but you could have a look around: Münchner Merkur.

The snow is not the problem, it is the ice! This winter has been particularly bad for the build up of ice.

Mme Sin has just come off the blower to her sis in Zweisel. It's bad up there. They've had 1.5 metres today and the roads are only open for Army and emergency services vehicles. The next village in the valley towards Regen has had 2 metres + today and has been evacuated. All the residents are in the sports hall where a team of soldiers are working to keep the roof clear.

My bruv-in-law is a structural architect specialising in dachs. He reckons that some of the villages have had three times the weight of snow that the roofs can take... and it probably ain't gonna stop fallin' for the next 24 hours.