Rough Wisconsin Winter
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=158951
Printed Date: 20 Aug 2025 at 11:43pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Rough Wisconsin Winter
Posted By: KenBWisc
Subject: Rough Wisconsin Winter
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2019 at 11:14am
 Been a tough one in NW Wisconsin! As of yesterday we've either matched or broken the all time snow fall for the year. Double the annual average.Blew all time accumulation for February out of the water. Many pole barns down. I suffered this collapse while returning from Florida. Shed is a total loss. The really interesting thing is how little damage there was to the contents. WC #629 only received barely noticeable paint scuffing, not even enough to file an insurance claim. Three people were working in the building minutes before the collapse of 2/3 of the roof. While my son and I were working on the carnage the other 1/3 fell before our eyes. I am truly blessed no one was injured or killed. ------------- '34 WC #629, '49 G, '49 B, '49 WD, '62 D-19, '38 All Crop 60 and still hunting! |
Replies:
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2019 at 11:53am
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It is awesome nobody got hurt, and also good your stuff didn't get damaged. Saw an article on farms.com this morning where a Wisconsin farmer rigged up a large "roof rake" attached to his loader to remove snow. It worked great and soon he had a new "business" cleaning roofs for several neighbors.
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Posted By: GreenOrange
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2019 at 7:09pm
| Glad no one was hurt! Had that happen in the early 80s - the 170 hood still bears it’s scars, but all family was safe and sound. |
Posted By: Dan Hauter
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2019 at 10:20pm
| Sorry for your loss! My brother & I lost a shed 5 years ago to a big snowstorm. It's a mess to clean up. Glad you had minimal damage to contents. |
Posted By: DanWi
Date Posted: 11 Mar 2019 at 10:25pm
| They showed on the news one town had a fire station collapse I think they said all the trucks except one was in there and another town a building that housed a towing company collapsed. |
Posted By: Alex09(WI)
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2019 at 12:09am
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Glad the damage to tractors was minimal, and that no one wsa hurt. I heard about the fire station collapse also. Most stores up in Northern WI have been sold out of roof rakes for the past month ------------- www.awtractor.com A&W TRACTOR 920-598-1287 KEEPING ALLIS-CHALMERS IN THE FIELDS THROUGH THE 21ST CENTURY |
Posted By: Lonn
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2019 at 6:16am
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A dairy farmer was completely put out of business a few weeks ago near me from his barn caving in and the same farm had another shed collapse last week. The governor even was out to see that farm and the damage. It was by far the snowiest February on record for us. I just knew we'd pay for having a nice December! ------------- -- --- .... .- -- -- .- -.. / .-- .- ... / .- / -- ..- .-. -.. . .-. .. -. --. / -.-. .... .. .-.. -.. / .-. .- .--. .. ... - Wink I am a Russian Bot |
Posted By: Ted J
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2019 at 9:05am
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Glad the only loss is the shed Ken. Even that is hard enough to take, but as you say, it could have been worse. Just glad no one was hurt or worse. ------------- "Allis-Express" 19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17 |
Posted By: TimCNY
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2019 at 9:24am
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That's a miserable thing to go through. I know. Glad you were on your way back. It's nerve-wracking knowing it's a slow-mo inevitability and there's little or nothing you can do about it. Wind during the last blizzard tore a little more than 8 feet of the top of our security chimney off; it was well-secured, but unable to stand against the frequent 75+ mph gusts. Just a sick feeling knowing something was happening and no way to stop it. Glad nothing else blew away. Lonn, I guess I see it in a different way - December was your advance apology payment from that most notorious psychotic wench of all time, Ma Nature. Or maybe it was payment for some other bad time? Either way, I'm not a "glass half empty or half full" kind of a guy: I just see it as, "Did you run out of water or did someone already drink out of it?" Or, "Is that mine or someone else's?" 
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Posted By: Randy_Larson
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2019 at 9:22pm
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Sorry to here about your loss. Last weekend in Chippewa Falls, we raked of the north side of our shed. I did start the tractors last Friday morning/afternoon, and let them run for about 1 hour. It warmed the shed's roof - south side, enough that by 5 p.m., the whole southside's snow slide off the roof. There was just enough heat inside and the late morning/early afternoon sun the metal was warmed. The sliding snow sounded like a thunderstorm. Glad to hear your collection was saved with minimal damage. |
Posted By: orangereborn
Date Posted: 12 Mar 2019 at 11:27pm
| Had big barn roof fold in and small old grainry go down. Randy, did They say we had 87 inches...? Dale |
Posted By: alleyyooper
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2019 at 11:50am
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My daughter Lives in Eua Clair Wisconsin. told me about setting the all time amount of snow for one month in Febuary, over 4 foot she said. Was worried about her house roof so I told her to get a roof rake. she said they were all sold out all around the area. and even in the twin citys. So I told her to build one like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKeOfX_zd8I" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKeOfX_zd8I She said it worked great once she got it built. She also told me there was a guy on you tube that used a rope to clean the snow off metal barn roofs. Sorry for your loos and the clean up you have to do. :D Al
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Posted By: mdm1
Date Posted: 13 Mar 2019 at 12:35pm
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I had two small sheds collapse. Called the insurance company and they asked if we had a farm policy. If we did we would not be covered. Since I couldn't afford to be a farmer we do not have that type of policy. I hope any farmers that had damage have a policy that will cover them. Saw quite a few barn collapses on the way to Clark cty. ------------- Everything is impossible until someone does it! WD45-trip loader 1947 c w/woods belly mower, 1939 B, #3 sickle mower 1944 B, 2 1948 G's. Misc other equipment that my wife calls JUNK! |
Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2019 at 1:29am
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Farm buildings are frequently at-risk of winter damage for several reasons... and they're secretly hidden in all the notes above: Snow load... when designing a building, we calculate 'snow load' by figuring out how many inches of snow to expect atop the building, and figure the weight of it on a per-square-foot basis, then we figure out how much surface area the roof has. I think the standard for Iowa is 20 to 40lbs/sqft.... that's basically 3-4 gallons of water. Wisconsin's snow load is higher by at least another gallon. You'd think that snow wouldn't be that heavy, but after you've had a good snow, and it's packed down, more arrives, and it just keeps coming. One gallon of water weighs 8lbs, and one gallon's volume comes to 231 cubic inches. Take a square foot area (144 sq in) and just two inches thick, you've got 288ci... that's over a gallon. Six inches of ice is enough to put you within limits of a 20lb/sqft roof rating. Farm buildings usually don't shed snow like a house... because the house is heated... it looses heat through the roof, which helps reduce snow load by melting it off. If it's heated steel, that works to advantage- the snow will slide off as soon as it gets melted from beneath. Farm buildings that aren't heated, have to deal with other structural issues. Moisture within nailed wood causes expansion, and hence, nails to be backed out or broken off... and the wood is weakened. Expansion of soil beneath post bases, or soil gripping and lifting the posts, stresses already weakened joints. High winds working on all those surfaces are the coup-de-grace. You may have heard banging and shuddering on fast-freezing nights... they're called cryoseisms... aka 'ice quakes'... soil expanding rapidly as it freezes, bumping buildings, shaking foundations. Check your basements for new cracks and signs of shifting and settlement... this was a tough winter. ------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |
Posted By: Ted J
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2019 at 4:47am
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That Dave was (IS) a mouthful!! "tough winter".... This 'winter' isn't over yet either.... ------------- "Allis-Express" 19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17 |
Posted By: JC-WI
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2019 at 5:38am
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Had to shovel off my barn roof lean-to 3 days ago, there was a drift up there 4 feet deep and when it got removed, it was almost up to the eves 8 ft. up. Yesterday had to shovel snow off a neighbors house and then remove the ice out of the valley that was holding water back and causing it to run in...and depth of the ice was about 20 inches at the deepest point and the fellow wanted at least half the snow off his garage too... He got little leary when his old barn collapsed the night before. When I got home, then I was informed that another friends barn totally collapsed with some cows in his barn killed two cows and a bull got injured and a younger animal had been trapped. Not been a good winter. ------------- He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that." |
Posted By: alleyyooper
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2019 at 5:44am
Daughter told me it is now raining on all that snow too. Al |
Posted By: JohnCO
Date Posted: 14 Mar 2019 at 8:46pm
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Sorry to read of the various losses you guys have had this winter. Ken's building picture is amazing as the way the roof fell. Looks like an almost new building too. Out west we have had lots of snow but maybe the buildings are built stronger or the weak ones fell down long ago. Heard that Lake City, CO, up in the mountains has been evacuated as there are steep mountains on all sides of it and several snow slides. Looking at the Colorado Snowtel site, I see some areas that have over 60" of snow water equivalent, which is close to 50 FEET of snow! High in the mountains, no buildings to collapse. ------------- "If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer" Allis Express participant |
Posted By: Ted J
Date Posted: 15 Mar 2019 at 11:41pm
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Yeah John, we've had a lot of WET heavy snow the last few times and the snow load is puttin em down. I'm lucky, I was up at the farm this morn and checked on mine. Apparently because mine is out in the open, the sun gets to it and makes it warm enough so the snow slides off. My roofs are fine! MY road in on the other hand,,,,,,,,,,is what you might term a 'lake', and it IS!! Can't get any closer than 50 yards... ------------- "Allis-Express" 19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17 |
Posted By: chaskaduo
Date Posted: 16 Mar 2019 at 12:01am
And we'll be bone dry by the end of June.  ------------- 1938 B, 79 Dynamark 11/36 6spd, 95 Weed-Eater 16hp, 2010 Bolens 14hp |
Posted By: Ross D.
Date Posted: 16 Mar 2019 at 8:55am
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Good morning. Ken, sorry for your loss. Clean up can be a rough deal. The WD35 that I bought had just come out of an old shed in which the roof collapsed with a big square beam falling cross ways onto the tractor. It crushed the hood and radiator, bent the hand clutch, steering assemblies and seat; but, the motor, gas tank and fenders were fine. I noticed that you have heat housers on the two pictured tractors. What is the apparatus in front of the R. H. tractor (D17, I think) ? Ross. 
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Posted By: JC-WI
Date Posted: 16 Mar 2019 at 9:27am
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Those two tractors are his snow fighters. The WD has a blade on the
loader and the D17 diesel probably has a snow blower on the back and
using suit-case weights and a B wheel center(?) for counter-balance.
------------- He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that." |