SnowLoadCheck

Bladen County, NC Roof Snow Load - 10 psf

Bladen County, NC roof snow load, translated

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10 psf

A typical heated home in Bladen County is designed to carry 10 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. 7 psf is what the ground-load formula alone gives; Bladen County's 10 psf low-slope minimum (§7.3.4) beats it, so that figure is the one that governs on flat and low-pitch roofs.

On a roof that means 22 in. of fresh snow, 8 in. once it packs down, or 2 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Standard residential construction handles a load this size without extra bracing; it is a modest addition on top of ordinary roof loading.

Bladen County, NC: quick facts

Where Bladen County ranks

#82 of 100 North Carolina counties by design load, top 67% of 2,758 nationally - that's Bladen County's spot. 12.9 psf is North Carolina's typical county figure - Bladen County comes in 2.9 psf under it.

FIPS 37017, population 29,777, centered near 34.5919°N 78.5395°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 10 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 10 psf design figure above.

Bladen County: average annual snowfall

Bladen County sees about 1.2 in. of snow most winters, per the WHITEVILLE 7 NW, NC US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Bladen County's figure

The figure above assumes the case ASCE 7-22 treats as typical: a heated, ordinary-occupancy home on a partially exposed site. Change any of those - exposure, heating, roof pitch, occupancy category - and the real design number moves.

A building permit needs the number at your exact address, not the county average - the free ASCE 7 Hazard Tool returns that from your coordinates in about a minute and produces a PDF a plan reviewer will accept. Details: the calculation guide.