How To Prevent Damage Caused By Ice Dams?

Author: Vergese Williams

An ice dam is a ridge of ice that usually forms at the edge of a roof and prevents the snow from melting and water to flow down to a safe drainage area. The water that backs up behind the dam can leak into a home causing damage to walls, ceilings, and insulation. Many reasons can lead to an ice dam on the roof like heat loss from the house, snow cover on the roof, and extremely low temperatures.

Ice dams are a common issue faced by many people living in an area where winter and ice fall is regular. Ice dams form because melting snow pools behind dams of ice at the roof edge. It causes roof leaks into the house causing heavy damage to the wood, furniture, walls and ceilings.

Heavy snowfall in the winter season can cause damage to your homes. Due to the clogged gutters, water is prevented from flowing freely from the roof to the ground through downspouts. The saturated water on the roof gets converted into ice. Many companies in Gold Coast offer Gutter Cleaning Services to increase the life of your gutters.

The ice dam grows as more melting snow flows down the roof until the water begins to back up behind the ice dam. This water finds cracks and openings in the exterior roof covering and flows into the attic space. From the attic, it can flow into the exterior walls or through the ceiling insulation and stain the ceiling.

If the water and ice are not cleaned from the roof, the dam grows as more melting snow flows down the roof and leads to water backup. This water finds cracks and openings in the exterior roof covering and the water overflows.

The ice dam must be cleaned from the roof and the gutter system, downspouts must be made clog free. The debris, leaves, twigs and seeds avoid the water to flow freely from the roof to the ground. Companies in Gold Coast delivers best Roof Cleaning Services to keep the roof clean and dry.

The snow, heat to melt the snow and cold to refreeze the melted snow into solid ice are the main reasons for ice dam formation on the roof. If the roof and gutter system as not properly cleaned then it can lead to oversaturation of ice on the roof. Ice dams develop as snow on the upper part of the roof melts.

Ice dams on the roof can lead to rotted roof decking, damage to the exterior and interior wall, mold growth on the walls and ceilings, heavy amount of ice saturation can break off and can cause roof, gutter, and siding damage.

To avoid ice dam formation on the roof keep the amount of snow on your roof to a minimum. Clean the gutter system, downspouts, roof on a regular basis if your house is located in an area of heavy snowfall. In winter season, clean leaves and debris from your home's gutters and maintain the gutter system clean and dry. Install gutter guards to prevent clogging problems to extend the life of the gutters. Aluminum Gutter Guard installation is one of the best and cheap solution to overcome roof leak problems.