A standing seam mounting bracket and a method of using two or three to provide attachment points along a standing seam roof is provided. The standing seam mounting brackets enable complementary use of commonly-owned equipment for enabling roof maintenance and construction. The standing seam mounting brackets may be used in concert with roof jacks, roof ladders, scaffolding members and the like that are commonly owned by most contractors so as to facilitate safe and easy horizontal and vertical movement along the sloped roof.

A standing seam mounting bracket and a method of using two or three to provide attachment points along a standing seam roof is provided. The standing seam mounting brackets enable complementary use of commonly-owned equipment for enabling roof maintenance and construction. The standing seam mounting brackets may be used in concert with roof jacks, roof ladders, scaffolding members and the like that are commonly owned by most contractors so as to facilitate safe and easy horizontal and vertical movement along the sloped roof.

A heat panel system for preventing ice formation about a roof or gutter includes at least two heat panels that are connected using a fastener. The heat panels each include a body including at least one channel configured to accept a heating element. Tongues and grooves or other mating arrangements on the panels and the fastener permit two panels to be joined by a fastener so as to inhibit relative lateral movement and enhance heat transfer between panels. A single panel or a multi-panel system can be mounted directly on the roof, and/or a single panel system can be mounted in a gutter. By using these heat panels and fasteners, heat panel systems of varying widths can be made using the same supplies.

A metal shingle having a body with left, right, top and bottom parts. The body is substantially planar and rectangular and has a front, a rear, left and right sides, a top and a bottom. The left and right parts extend from the left and right side respectively. One of the left and right parts is folded over the front and the other is folded over the bottom. The top and bottom parts extend from the top and bottom respectively. One of the top and bottom parts is folded over the front and the other is folded over the bottom. In use, the shingles are positioned in each of side-to-side and top-to-bottom abutting relation so that adjacent sides are interlocked. The body defining a hollow adjacent to one of the interlocking top and bottom parts.

A metal shingle having a body with left, right, top and bottom parts. The body is substantially planar and rectangular and has a front, a rear, left and right sides, a top and a bottom. The left and right parts extend from the left and right side respectively. One of the left and right parts is folded over the front and the other is folded over the bottom. The top and bottom parts extend from the top and bottom respectively. One of the top and bottom parts is folded over the front and the other is folded over the bottom. In use, the shingles are positioned in each of side-to-side and top-to-bottom abutting relation so that adjacent sides are interlocked. The body defining a hollow adjacent to one of the interlocking top and bottom parts.

A snow guard assembly heated within one or more snow guard tubes. Heating of the snow guard tube prevents excessive accumulation of snow and helps prevent snow build up and spill over above the top of the snow guard. The tubes can be length-wise separable to place and service the heating elements. The heating element can be standard heat tape or infrared LEDs. The snow guard tubes can optionally have a non-uniform cross-sectional thickness to direct the heat more efficiently in a desired orientation. The interior of the snow guard tubes can be selectively coated with infrared absorbing or reflective material to direct the heat in a desired orientation when infrared LEDs are used as a heat source. The snow guard can be attached to many types of roof surfaces including tile roofs, metal roofs with or without standing seams, and shingle roofs.

A building intelligence gathering, assessment and decision-support system including a GPS system deployed about the Earth and supporting a plurality of GPS satellites for transmitting GPS signals to the surface of the Earth. A building data sensor network, including a plurality of GPS-tracked rooftop-mounted sensors, are mounted on the rooftop surface of the building, and adapted for collecting GPS-indexed data specifying conditions on the rooftop surface at particular dates and times of the year. The building rooftop conditions includes one or more conditions selected from the group consisting of snow load conditions, windspeed and direction, and temperature. The system also includes one or more hand-held mobile augmented-reality (AR) based rooftop navigation and inspection devices, each configured for communication with communication servers within a data center over a wireless data communication network. Each hand-held mobile AR-based inspection device is capable displaying digital images of objects and scenery captured in its field of view (FOV) while the user is moving about the rooftop surface, along with graphical indications of GPS-tracked rooftop-mounted sensors collecting data regarding conditions on the building rooftop surface. By virtue of the present invention, users can now navigate building rooftops, inspect rooftop situations, identify where GPS-tracked rooftop-mounted sensors have been installed, and quickly determine where particular conditions have been automatically detected during rooftop inspections.

A roof mount assembly mounts a structure to a roof having a rafter and a substrate supported by the rafter. The roof mount assembly includes a piece of flashing positioned on the substrate. The flashing includes a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface and an aperture extending through the flashing. A fastener extends through the flashing aperture. A bracket is connected to the flashing via the fastener, and the bracket is sized to support at least one roof-mounted structure on the roof. A seal is positioned between the flashing aperture and the fastener. The seal is sized to form a water-tight seal with the aperture to inhibit flow of fluid through the aperture. The seal includes a first portion and a second portion, in which the first portion is positioned to abut the flashing first surface and the second portion is positioned to extend through the aperture.

A roof mount assembly mounts a structure to a roof having a rafter and a substrate supported by the rafter. The roof mount assembly includes a piece of flashing positioned on the substrate. The flashing includes a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface and an aperture extending through the flashing. A fastener extends through the flashing aperture. A bracket is connected to the flashing via the fastener, and the bracket is sized to support at least one roof-mounted structure on the roof. A seal is positioned between the flashing aperture and the fastener. The seal is sized to form a water-tight seal with the aperture to inhibit flow of fluid through the aperture. The seal includes a first portion and a second portion, in which the first portion is positioned to abut the flashing first surface and the second portion is positioned to extend through the aperture.

A geothermal heat delivery system supplies geothermal heat for various residential, surface heating applications, including heating driveways, paths, sidewalks, homes, roofs, swimming pools, and commercial applications, including heating roadways, parkways, highways, airport runways, parking lots and sidewalks. The geothermal heat delivery system includes a series of heat pipes that are used to provide geothermal heat from a borehole to a structure or a surface, which can for example, melt precipitation on a road, driveway or roof, without the use of a ground source heat pump.