Ice dams can occur after a heavy snowfall. That snow builds up on your roof during a snowstorm. As it melts, it can refreeze at the edge of your roof, creating a ridge of ice that stops water from draining off your roof properly. When this happens, the melting snow and ice will end up under your roof’s shingles since it has nowhere else to go. All that water eventually finds its way into your home, where it can cause a variety of problems. The longer it is before you notice an ice dam, the more damage it can cause.
Ice Dam Issues
Once that melting snow and ice works its way into your home, it creates several problems, including many potentially serious structural issues. It can rot your roof deck along with your interior and exterior walls and your home’s framing.
Your insulation is at risk too. Once insulation gets wet from that moisture, its effectiveness decreases. Without functioning insulation, heat will escape through your roof. Unfortunately, this causes more snow to melt, which results in more ice dams and further leaks.
Those leaks allow water to get into your walls, where it can cause your paint to blister and peel. This is a long-term effect that you might not even realize is coming from a previous ice dam.
All that moisture can be a serious risk to your health too. The dampness encourages mold and mildew growth. Mold and mildew produce irritants and allergens, which can also lead to lung infections over time. You could find yourself dealing with a runny nose, sneezing, red eyes, or an asthma attack.
How Ice Dams Form
Let’s take a more in-depth look at how ice dams develop. The main cause is uneven roof temperatures. Ice dams occur when you have snow on your roof. The higher part of your roof’s surface needs to be above 32 degrees Fahrenheit while the lower portions are below 32 degrees. This only happens when the outdoor temperature is 32 degrees or below.
In parts where the roof’s surface is warmer than freezing, the snow will melt. As the melting snow runs down the roof, it will come into contact with colder areas that are below freezing and will refreeze, allowing an ice dam to begin to form. As more snow melts, the ice dam grows in size, and eventually, it will grow so large that it pushes back all the water from the melting snow. The water will no longer drain properly off the roof but will instead flow through any opening it can find. That might mean flowing through your attic, into your walls, and backing up through other gaps and cracks to damage ceilings, insulation, walls, and more.
Why Your Roof Has Uneven Heat
For an ice dam to form, you need a heat source to warm portions of your roof while the rest remains cold. That heat comes from your home’s interior. Poor insulation is the most common cause of heat loss, but that warmth could also be coming from things like your kitchen and bathroom exhaust systems or your chimney.
Preventing Ice Dams
You can prevent ice dams by limiting the heat loss coming from your home. Start by ensuring that your ceilings are airtight. This prevents warm air from reaching the attic. After eliminating air leaks between your living space and the attic, think about increasing or upgrading your insulation.
Check the depth of the insulation in your attic. Current building codes require 12 to 14 inches of cellulose or fiberglass insulation. If you have an older home, you may not have this much. Add more, especially if you currently have 8 inches or less.
You can also upgrade to an insulation with an R-value of R-40. R-value is a rating that measures the capacity an insulating material has to stop the flow of heat. The higher this number is, the better it insulates.
Ventilation
You also need to have proper ventilation in your attic to avoid uneven heat on your roof’s surface. Proper ventilation cools your attic by drawing in cold air and pushing warm air out naturally.
Waterproof Barriers
If you’re replacing your roof, we can add ice dam prevention products such as an ice and water barrier. This is a self-sealing underlayment that attaches to the roof decking to waterproof it. It typically extends 3-6 feet up from the edge of the roof. We shingle over it so that you won’t see it.
Use a Snow Rake
After a heavy snowfall, you can use a snow rake to remove snow from your roof. This is a tool that features an aluminum scraper that sits at a right angle to the end of a telescoping aluminum pole. If you remove the snow from your roof, it can’t turn into an ice dam. These rakes will only reach the roof of a one-story house.
Utilize Heat Cables
Heat cables are wires that follow a zig-zag pattern along the edge of your roof. You plug them into an exterior GFCI outlet. You need to ensure the water makes its way off your roof. This is done by having the wire extend down the downspouts to prevent refreezing.
Metal Roofing Materials
Metal roofing does a really good job of helping homeowners avoid ice dams, especially if your roof has a steep pitch. There’s nothing on a metal roof for ice to cling to. Ice can build up around the metal screws that attach the panels to your roof, but they’re way too small to hold back large amounts of ice.
Shingles, on the other hand, have many ridges that ice can hold onto. Metal roofs also have ridges, but they are vertical lines that reach from the top of the roof to the edge of it. Snow can slide off a metal roof so easily that we install snow stops to keep heavy snow from suddenly falling. Metal roofs aren’t completely ice dam proof, but they are quite helpful in minimizing them when compared to other popular roofing materials.
Our team here at The Roof Detective will do all we can to help you prevent ice dams, and we can repair the damage they leave behind. We offer professional roof repairs that will restore your roof to its original beauty and functionality. When there comes a time when your repairs are frequent and costly, we can assist you with a new installation. You can count on our roof inspections to help you get the most out of your home’s roof. We handle siding installations, and we offer copper and aluminum gutters, too. We use only high-quality materials and proven techniques, whether you have traditional asphalt shingles, wood shake, or a metal roof. We back up all of our work with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Call The Roof Detective in Columbus, OH now for more information.
