Santa Claus is coming to town in a matter of days! From his workshop in the North Pole, he and his elves are getting presents ready to be delivered. They’re loading up the sleigh and harnessing the reindeers. When the time comes, Kris Kringle will set off into the night with Rudolph and his red nose guiding the way.
Meanwhile, back at Ashco Exteriors, our Mythical Investigation Team (MIT) is busy behind the scenes. We’re getting ready for Santa’s arrival with much-needed research to counter the after-effects of his visit. As you can imagine, that’s a lot of weight on the top of a house when they land, so we want to make sure we’re prepared when the time comes to fix roof damage left by jolly St. Nick, his sleigh and crew of reindeer.
On Christmas Eve, he’ll be flying around and having a merry old time dropping off gifts. At each home, he’s coming in hot and has to touch down on the roof’s landing zone in a short amount of time. Safe to say that he’s oblivious to all the roof damage he’s causing when there’s so much cheer to deliver! Luckily, our MIT branch has done some calculations and estimations in advance of this much-anticipated event. Here’s what we’ve come up with:

  • Sleigh feet. The 15-foot-long sleigh is loaded down. By chance, Santa had the foresight (and money, thanks to his seemingly unlimited amount of disposable income!) to attach feet for a smooth landing. But did he buy the right ones with specialized rubber guards to minimize damage upon impact? Unfortunately no. For aerodynamic reasons, he bought the ones that resemble ice skates.
  • Reindeer size and weight. The average male is very large in size and weight: Approximately 6 feet, 5 inches long and 450 pounds. Yikes, talk about big! Collectively, Santa’s 9 well-feed reindeer weigh 4,050 pounds.In sum, the dimensions of the sleigh with reindeer are 8-feet wide by 48.5-feet long (3 feet between each reindeer, 4 feet from the sleigh and 15 feet for the length of the sleigh).
  • Velocity. In order to make it to all the homes around the world in one night, research shows that Santa needs to travel at 650 miles per second. That’s an incredibly fast speed! The approaching velocity, subtracted by the variable “magic,” equals a landing velocity of 15 miles per hour (MPH).
  • Braking system. Hopefully the reindeer can help slow things as they touch down. Yet, empirical evidence by our MIT branch suggests effective braking is a combination of the reindeer and a propulsion system mounted to the front of the sleigh. However, it’s not always a gentle landing. Hooves stomp down on the shingles and the propulsion system may leave burn marks. No worries, though, shingles are fire resistant.

Everything They Touch is Damaged

Wow, that’s quite a lot for a roof to handle! Our MIT branch has concluded that all these factors – sleigh feet, reindeer size and weight, approaching and touchdown velocities, and braking system – contribute to a roof damage area of approximately 400 square feet. Here’s our calculation: Assuming it takes about 3 feet to stop (based on the 15 MPH touchdown velocity), the landing zone is 51.5 feet in length. Multiply by the width of 8 feet, and the damaged area equals 412 square feet of rooftop.
Until Saint Nicholas starts using the front door, you’ll have to deal with roof damage like this each year. It may only be to shingles such as granular loss and bruising from hooves, burns from the propulsion system, or slicing from the sleigh feet. Or it may be a combination of shingles-underlayment-decking from severe impact of excessive weight. These all lead to serious problems unless they’re given attention right away.

It’s Never Too Late to Contact the Roofing Professionals

So now, it’s the day after Father Christmas’ visit. He has surprised the kids with presents but also left unwanted gifts for the parents – roof damage. Don’t let this get in the way of your holiday cheer. It’s super easy to sign up with the roof replacement and repair experts at Ashco Exteriors for a proper post-Santa assessment of all mythical-related issues and more! Put your mind at ease – schedule a free 7-point roof inspection today.