Snow here can pile up fast
Lake-effect snow can fall in narrow bands and keep coming for days. The National Weather Service office for northern Indiana recorded just over 30 inches at South Bend from November 12–20, 2022 (checked Oct 2026), and wrote that the heaviest snow of December 6–7, 2006 fell in a narrow swath from northern Cass County, Michigan, to central Noble County, Indiana (checked Oct 2026).
So plan for a winter when the snow on the roof gets heavy, and for the morning you need the doors open with a drift in front of them.
What is on a Homestead Barns roof
- A metal roof is standard; asphalt shingles are available, in Black, Dark Brown or Weathered Wood, for 3% of the base price.
- The roof shape depends on the style: gable roofs on the sheds, cabins, casitas and garages (Homestead’s builder lists a 4/12 pitch on most of them), the gambrel barn roof on the barns and lofted styles, a single slope on the Studio, and tinted polycarbonate panels on the Potting Shed.
- Aluminum drip edge, and vents for air flow.
- 2 x 4 walls, 16 in on center, on 4 x 6 pressure-treated skids.
We don’t have a snow-load rating from Homestead Barns for these buildings. If your building department asks for one, ask us and we’ll check what we can get.
Every style’s page has the rest of how it is built: Styles & Prices.
Looking after it in winter
- Clear heavy snow from the ground, with a roof rake, and never climb onto a snowy or icy roof.
- On a metal roof, snow can let go all at once. Keep paths, cars and anything breakable out from under the edge of the roof, and don’t stand there while it is sliding.
- Don’t chip at ice with a shovel or a hammer, on metal, shingles or the Potting Shed’s panels: you will hurt the roof sooner than the ice will.
- Keep the doors clear. Shovel the snow back from the doors before it freezes, and don’t force a door that is frozen shut.
- Move the snow away from the walls, so the melt runs off instead of sitting against the building.
- Keep the vents clear, so air keeps moving through.
- A door sticking after the building settles? Have the leveling checked first; that is usually the cause.
Where you put it matters
Before the building arrives, think about where the snow goes on your lot: off the roof of the house, from the driveway when it is plowed, and where the wind leaves its drifts. Keep the new building, and especially its doors, out of the way of all three.
Getting your spot ready covers the rest of picking the spot.
Snow rules are set where you live
For a building that needs a permit, how much snow it must be built to carry comes from the building code, and your building department enforces it. In Indiana that is the Indiana Residential Code, whose 2020 edition Steuben County’s building department lists; in Michigan, the Michigan Residential Code, whose 2015 edition Branch County’s lists (checked Oct 2026). The figures depend on where you are, so check with your county, or in Michigan your township, before you order.
Each county page below says who to call.
County by county
Each county’s page has its towns, and who handles permits there and what they said when we checked:
- LaGrange County, INShipshewana, LaGrange, Topeka, Howe, Wolcottville, Mongo, Stroh
- Noble County, INKendallville, Ligonier, Albion, Avilla, Rome City, Cromwell, Kimmell, Wawaka
- Elkhart County, INMiddlebury, Bristol, Goshen, Elkhart, Millersburg, New Paris, Nappanee, Wakarusa
- Kosciusko County, INWarsaw, Syracuse, Milford, North Webster, Leesburg
- Steuben County, INAngola, Fremont, Orland, Hamilton, Pleasant Lake
- DeKalb County, INAuburn, Garrett, Butler, Waterloo, Corunna
- St. Joseph County, MISturgis, White Pigeon, Constantine, Three Rivers, Centreville, Colon, Mendon, Burr Oak, Nottawa
- Cass County, MIEdwardsburg, Cassopolis, Vandalia, Jones
- Branch County, MIColdwater, Bronson, Quincy, Union City