Snow and cold weather have finally arrived in Maine and New Hampshire, which is great news for ski resorts but can often lead to headaches for homeowners. Along with rising heating bills, another side effect of winter weather is an increased chance of ice dams forming on your roof.
Protect Your Home from Ice Dams and Water Damage
Ice dams are continuous blocks of ice that form along the edges of your roof due to melting snow. They occur when all or part of your roof heats up to 32 degrees. Heat typically causes this from your home to escape through the roof, often due to a warm attic. The escaping heat melts patches of snow on your roof, causing it to trickle to the edge, where it refreezes as the temperature cools – creating an ice dam. The more snow on the roof, the greater the heat loss. The longer temperatures remain below freezing, the greater the chances of an ice dam.
Ice dams can cause significant damage to your home if not addressed promptly. As ice melts, water can seep under shingles, leading to potential damage to your roof, drywall, insulation, ceilings, and floors. Left untreated, this water intrusion may lead to mold growth, further damaging your property and indoor air quality. Additionally, the weight of ice dams can pull gutters and downspouts away from your home, potentially damaging fascia boards as well.
At Octagon Cleaning and Restoration Services, we specialize in protecting your home from the dangers of water damage, ice dams, and mold. Our trained professionals are equipped to provide expert water damage restoration and mold remediation, ensuring your home is safe and secure. Don’t wait for the problem to worsen—contact us today for immediate assistance, and let us help safeguard your property with our trusted expertise.
How to Prevent Ice Dams and Protect Your Roof
To prevent ice dams from forming in the first place, you need to keep your roof cold. Some steps you can take to prevent ice dams from forming, including:
- Thoroughly clean your drains, gutters, and downspouts so melted snow can be directed away from your roof.
- Remove or relocate heat sources directly under the roof, such as in the attic.
- Ensure any ceiling lighting fixtures directly below an unheated attic are insulated.
- Install soffit, gable, or ridge vents to expel heat.
- Close up any air leaks in your attic caused by gaps in drywall, cracks around light fixtures, chimneys, etc.
- Make sure your attic is properly insulated. If you have fiberglass or cellulose insulation, it should be a minimum of 12-14” thick. An even better solution is spray foam insulation, which will reach and insulate all cracks and crevices and results in a solid air barrier that greatly reduces the amount of heat escaping in the winter.
Should an ice dam form on your home, don’t try to take care of it yourself, as you are likely to damage your roof. Call a company such as Octagon Cleaning & Restoration that can professionally remove your ice dam by steaming away the ice and removing any remaining snow on your roof.
If you already experience water entering your home due to an ice dam, do not delay; call the water mitigation experts at Octagon immediately to treat the ice dam and clean up the water damage and any resulting mold issues. You can reach our team of professionals at (207) 893-0002 in Maine and (603) 239-2100 in New Hampshire.
