While a snow-capped house invokes images of a cozy respite filled with hot-cocoa sipping families staying warm by the fireplace, heavy snow can wreak havoc on a roof.
Snow – particularly wet snow – can put a heavy burden on your residential roofing.
In fact, six inches of wet snow can weigh as much as 38 inches of dry snow.
The High Cost of Letting Snow Accumulations Stay Put
A roof collapse can be catastrophic, causing permanent or serious damage to those inside as well as the interior – but there are other potential results that are also rather costly. When snow accumulations begin to melt, it can cause slow water seepage that can ultimately result in roof rotting. Once it becomes permeable, the water can leak into the attic, destroying insulation, penetrating ceilings, and ultimately into the home. Fortunately, there are several preventive measures that can help thwart ice and snow accumulations from forming and causing damage.
Preventing Ice Damage on Roofing
Both before and during the chilly season, take these steps to do your part in preventing snow accumulations.
1. Add Insulation
Adding insulation to attic floors helps hold warmth inside your structure, which in turn helps prevent ice dams. You’ll also enjoy the benefits of saving energy and maintaining more stable indoor temperatures.
2. Ice Dam Prevention
Ice dams are a serious problems on roofing, and they will typically form as heat escapes from the attic – a problem you can prevent with step one. Furthermore, blocked gutters can allow the melting snow to refreeze inside of them, which forces water to escape by traveling beneath roofing shingles and causing damage.
3. Gutter Maintenance
Roofing experts advise you to clean and inspect your gutters twice a year – once before the winter and once in the springtime. Not only does keeping your gutters cleared help prevent ice dams, but it will ensure that melting snow has a place to freely flow rather than seeping into interiors and damage roofing.
Removing Snow Accumulations
Granted, there may be times during heavy snowstorms that these measures just can’t stop heavy accumulations, and you may be considering attempting to remove the snow yourself. While it can be done, removing snow from your roof is quite a dangerous task, as your weight alone or one wrong step during the removal effort could cause a collapse. Contact us to handle snow removal from your roof, and ensure the safety of yourself and your home.
