AMERICAN FORK, Utah — TRA Snow and Sun Inc. now offers an American Institute of Architects (AIA) approved continuing education course dealing with roofing in alpine regions.

Terry Anderson, owner of TRA Snow and Sun and Anderson Associates Consulting, has established himself and his companies as experts in the roof snow retention industry for more than 35 years and is co-author of the Concrete and Clay Tile Design Criteria for Cold and Snow Regions. The new AIA online course, Roofing Solutions for Alpine Regions, provides one credit hour of continuing education credit for architects wishing to maintain their license. It is also available for anyone wishing to understand the best way to design a roof in a cold or snowy climate. It incorporates Anderson’s extensive experience and deals specifically with:

• The common roofing challenges that are unique to cold climates
• The advantages and disadvantages of the most common solutions to snow and ice on roofs
• The accepted roof design practices in Europe as compared to those in the United States and Canada
• The concepts and effectiveness of roof ventilation and snow retention in reducing snow and ice problems
• Several factors to be considered in the proper engineering of roof snow retention devices

Feather & Gill Architects of Santa Fe, N.M., specializes in high-end residential buildings in New Mexico and Colorado. Principal Architect Dan Featheringill took the course and has incorporated what he learned into a job in Pagosa Springs, Colo. Since there are many low-slope roofs as well as steep-slope roofs in the snowy areas he designs for, he thought this course about alpine regions would be helpful, and it was. Among the things He said, “The course specifically helped me understand how important ventilation is in the attic space to maintain the cool buffer between the attic and roof. I learned a lot from this course, so it was great!”