text: Snow on roof - Static Caravan Owners Advice Forum | Sales | Rental | Sublet
  i know Caravans are made to withstand some pretty bad weather but is there any guide lines to weight of snow on a van roof up in Falkirk im seeing sheds and gargaes with snow 18" deep that has to be a pretty hefty weight over the roof of a Static. Our van is in Dumfries so they may not have had it so bad but we wont get down to the van till next week sometime.
  there is a minimum standard of grade D snow loading for static vans, i think that the roofs of vans are very strong but it is dependant on the rest of the structure being as built, ie all internal walls and cupboards etc being in place, if you have removed and cupboards or walls, including the benches seating then you may be in trouble, i know there are some out there that have remover the table seating areas and even some have removed fixed bench seating in favour of free standing sofa's but it is all calculated in the process of transferring the additional weight of the snow down through the walls to the floor and then the chassis and to the ground through the axle and levelling jacks, the roof will be fine but if the walls are weakened then they could splay out but this snow we have now is light as its dry and powdery, it has not landed on the roof in one lump, so no shock to the roof, and it will melt away slowly so the roof will recover slowly so all should be well, unless you have gone for the open plan refurbishment, in which case you will probably end up with a star lit ceiling ( the sky )
  Got it, No we have not changed anything internally but i know plenty who have done i always wonderd if taking out fixed seating fitted furniture ect would change the structure/ strength of the outer shell.
  02-03-2018, 15:15
  Good point this, IMO. Have posted in the past about pulling out fixtures etc and possibly weakening the structure. If anyone is considering doing this, think it would be best them seeking advice from the manufacturer first . Also, I would not be surprised if the caravan insurance company were against it as well?
  grading is from A to G caravans minimum standard is D a lot are A and B with some C and D but the calculations are based on the structure below ie the walls holding the roof, so if you alter walls, and this includes units, dwarf low level walls etc seat bases then the roof could be loosing support from these removed items, i think it would be very unlucky to suffer but they were there for more than one reason,
  Most vans have steel pantile roofs which are very durable and strong. I would think that you would have to have quite some weight of snow before your van would be damaged. Hopefully, you will be insured so personally, I wouldn't worry unnecessarily.