Customer Reviews

Garelick 89421 21-Foot Aluminum Snow Roof Rake With 24-Inch Blade

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I just had a new shingled roof put on last summer, so I wanted to make sure that I got a rake that would not damage it when removing snow. I live in the mountains of Maine, so snow is a pretty common event during the winter. After reading the reveiws of this rake, I decided that this would be the best rake for the job. The first thing I did before I assembled it was, replace the nuts, bolts, and washers with stainless steel. This costs less than $4. Some of the other reveiws complained of the originals. Cheap Fix! After using it a half dozen times, I can say that I made the right choice for a rake. Very well built, lightweight, and rugged! I would like to point out that, The proper way to roof rake is NOT to wait until you get three feet of snow accumulation,from several storms, with ice dams already present. If you use this rake the way it is intended, It should last a lifetime.

I picked this snow rake up from my local Ace; it was the last one for 20 miles. It does the job, but within the three days I've had to fix it multiple times. Both of the bolts on the diagonal supports that come off the main pole have broken off and have had to be replaced by decent ones from my local hardware store along with some lock-nuts (these have stayed on). The blade of the rake has a bend in it where I pulled on some ice trying to break it free. The rubber grip comes off if you pull on it alone.

Seeing how expensive roof rakes are, you'd figure Garelick would spring for an extra buck in the construction phase and put better nuts and bolts on it -- that alone would have raised my rating a star or two.

After the repairs (which cost me just about a buck) it does it's job of getting snow off the my roof, so I can't complain **too** much.

I got this and used this today to work all around my two story home that has multiple levels and multiple gables around windows etc. Forecast has freezing rain for tonite and rain for tomorrow. With 2 feet of snow all over the roof and snow hanging over the gutters, time to get it off the roof and gutters before this comes. The rake came with both lock washers and lock nuts. I don't see these going anywhere. Assembly was a breeze. I recommend using a screwdriver to hold the slot in the wheels open as you push them onto the blade, that makes it a lot easier than trying to push them on without one which seemed impossible to do. Last week here in WI we received 18 inches of snow. With drifting I had many areas in excess of 2 feet on the roof. This was able to knock week old snow crusted down with no problem. You'll see someone who rated this rake poorly in 2007 and was also using it to pull ice off the roof etc. This is made to pull snow down not to be used as an ice scraper which of course would put too much stress on it. It's made of Al to be lite weight so you can lift it and as such it won't be rugged, common sense is required when using this. I had no problem moving 1 foot wide by 2 foot deep section off the roof. Little pulling is required and if you are feeling resistance when pulling you are trying to move too much at once. If you can, start on the top roof first if you have a 2 story. I made the mistake of doing the lower levels and then moving to the upper. By the time I got up there I could barely lift the thing way up there as my left shoulder was pretty worn out. It's best to lift it up further away from the house and then walk towards the house as you lower it. No problem getting this to land pretty much where I wanted it. It does bend a bit when all sections are used but still no issues. After clearing the snow there is still a very thin layer of snow on the roof and no signs that the shingles were touched. I'm actually looking forward to doing the roof again and will no longer need to climb a ladder in front of the garage with a plastic snow shovel to clear part of it. NEVER USE NEAR POWER LINES. I don't care how careful you are, don't even come close to any power coming into your home or outside. When you are moving this around, the pole is 21 feet long but 16 most of the time and it will go places you aren't intending, also keep children out of the area as you could easily hit them with the end of the handle as you are using it and they walk behind you...like my Samantha did but luckily I saw here and told her to leave the area. 21ft only got me about 1 1/2 feet onto the upper level due to other areas on the home the come out away from the front. My house is not close to a box shape and has many corners but I believe this got to the areas I needed to. Just lifted a pot of noodles off the stove...my left shoulder is killing me, I guess it's time to start working out again. If you have a lot of snow on your roof like I did and have many levels, you may not want to tackle it all at once to save your body and in case you are not in the best shape. I completed my roof in less than an hour including shoveling and snow blowing the huge pile of snow that landed on the driveway. Enjoy, I researched these for about 3 weeks and kept coming back to this model and the weather caused me to pull the trigger. Just do it!

The roof rake went together easily and took the snow off the roof the first time I used it. The second time it came apart, one of the pieces went flying into three feet of snow to be found after the snow melts. Wish I had read previous reviews about the bolts and nuts. It's unwieldy and hard to lift - but I think that's the nature of a roof rake being handled by a 60 yr old weakling. Comes apart easily for storage.

I bought this snow rake because I had just installed new shingles and did not want to rake the sand coating off the shingles when removing the snow. This is exactly what I needed: An effective, right-size (24"), light aluminum but well-built rake, lots of handle length (up to 21 feet in 5 foot increments), correctly contoured to "catch" snow for removal, AND TWO ROLLERS THAT KEEP THE CUTTING EDGE OFF THE NEW SHINGLES so I don't rake the eave troughs full of sand in just a couple of snow removals, ruining my shingles in the process. Wish I could have had this thing 40 years ago.
DON'T::: 1.--wait too long to remove snow. If there is melting, re-freezing and hardened snow crusts, you'll beat this (and any snow rake) to pieces trying to remove "snow". This is a snow rake, not an ice rake. 2.--(don't)try to move too much snow in a single rake stroke. That is hard on the rake, to say nothing about hard on yourself. Take reasonable sized bites, oftener, and you'll enjoy cleaning your roof without killing yourself. 3.--(don't)pull the rake straight down the roof line, but pull slightly diagonally so that one end of the rake clears the roof before the other and this AVOIDS the entire bottom rake edge from falling into the eave trough, hooking it and possibly damaging it.
Another thing I really like is that with just a bit smaller bites, I find I can "steer" where the snow lands by accelerating the pull in the direction I want the snow to land, for example, beyond a bush, or even a front step.
I love this product in spite of the fact that I have a quite a bit of work connected with it: 168 feet of roof line to contend with.

Enjoy! A.V. Edgerton, MN

It works for one story within about 4' or so of the edge while standing on level ground. Maybe a ladder could be used, but I didn't try. I didn't buy any 5' extensions, but can imagine that only one more 5' extension would be practical due to flexing of the 20' rake handle as it is. The lock washers were not sufficient (lost a nut after an hour use) and I suggest buying lock nuts with nylon inserts to more permanently fasten the rake head together. I recommend this rake with the lock nut caveat.

Bought this after Snowmageddon 2010. Living outside DC, you usually don't need something like this, but when you have 3 feet of snow on your roof, this is exactly what you need. You also need the 21' extra length to get as high as possible to clear as much show as possible. The detachable wand sections let you set the length from 6' to 21' in 5' increments.

Use with patience - dragging snow off the roof isn't a rapid activity. Drag slices of snow a little at a time. Start at the bottom and work your way up.

One tip: The bolts fell off the supports as I was using it, even though they were tightly secured with the included lock washers, probably from the twisting during use and metal shrink from cold. Fortunately, I had workable nuts and bolts on hand. After assembly, use a chisel or punch to crimp exposed threads on the screws to keep the bolts from working off. If the bolts loosen, they won't fall off and you can tighten them up again.

If your looking for a roof rake, Home Depot has a much better one than this and cheaper. The only reason I bought this one is because it was supposed to be in stock and I needed one immediately. Unfortunatly, I did not recieve it until about 2 weeks later. After I put it together, trying to use it on the roof was very difficult due to the bending in it. I thought that if I reinforced the connections with 2 ft sections of pvc that would help and it did slightly but was still difficult to maneuver. My neighbor has the Home Depot one which is a 2 section rake and bends very little. It is alot easier to use and you don't feel like you are deep sea fishing. My recommendation is to find a 2 section rake, you'll be alot happier.

I don't have much roof to do (townhouse condo) and considered a cheaper rake, but this one has the rollers which keep the blade from scraping the shingles. I do make sure that the bolts on the head are tightened before using, since they may be come loose over time. At 21 feet, you do need to be careful handling the weight and length. I also purchased the Garant curved extensions Garant #GPRR24A Roof Rake Extension which fit the blade end of this just fine. These give me about 2 feet more of length and also allow me to rake the back roof while standing closer to the condo itself. All in all, this is a great product and I've had no problems with it.

I have two banks of well flashed roof windows, three above three, on a 12 pitch roof, with about ten inches spacing between them. Only on one occasion in 22 years was there a minor problem with melting ice seeping past flashing when the entire bank of windows was blanketed in heavy snow. This past week recreated that potential for disaster. Having borrowed a neighbors aluminum head snow rake I had some difficulty placing and maneuvering his rake above the windows. The 3/4" dia. steel tubes on the loaner bowed like a fishing pole but did not buckle, and I had fair success removing ~ 16" of heavy snow. Next day my rake arrived in record time and none too soon. Tiny spots of water seepage were visible on the sheet rock between the lower windows. Because of the effort required, I had not cleared enough. The Garelick 89421 Rake worked far better than the one I had previously used. At full 21 ft. length, the 1" diameter thick-wall pipe sections did bow somewhat, but rake placement above the top windows required far less effort with this model. For most situations the user can glide the rake down on its clever rollers, roll back up and walk the head over to the adjacent uncleared area cutting sideways into the snow "blanket" and again rake down. So, only once is it necessary to raise the entire rake above the deep snow layer. I'm glad I did not opt for a plastic head model. Most plastic heads have webbed sides and backs for rigidity which would block sideways cutting into a thick layer of adjacent snow, and plastic can shatter at sub-zero temps should you encounter hard ice. The tempered aluminum head is well designed, angled to resist deforming as you apply pulling force against the crusted snow. The ability to add/remove handle sections is optimal for reduced effort and eliminates hitting a too-long pole into the ground. The manufacturer has now included nuts with captive serrated lockwashers in addition to separate lockwashers so that both ends of the nut/bolt are secured. I recommend using Lock-tite or Permatex Blue Threadlocker (~$3)to avoid the inevitable loosening of fasteners from flexing joints.