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Many of you are probably not going to agree with me, but I could not be happier with all this snow! Finally, a winter that reminds me of my childhood winters. Growing up in Minneapolis and living here my entire life, I just believe if it’s going to be cold (which ya know it’s going to be!) it might as well be a beautiful winter wonderland! However the ice I could definitely do without and unfortunately, this year we have had a lot of that. Between the ice and snow, we have many homeowners experiencing water damage due to ice dams. The best way to avoid water damage to your home or business due to ice dams is to be aware of what they are and how to prevent.
A basic explanation of how ice dams form: Snow melts on the roof over the living space of a house if the roof’s temperature is above 32 degrees — often because a house’s heat is leaking up through the attic. The water runs down the roof slope. When reaching the eaves, where the roof extends into below-freezing air, the water freezes into an ice dam. That causes water from additional melting to back up under the shingles. That water can seep into walls and ceilings, causing stains, mold, and mildew.
Other factors in ice dam formation: Snow is an insulator, and just having a thick layer of it on top of the house can cause the roof to get warmer and melt more snow. Freeze-and-melt temperature cycles exacerbate the problem. Complicated roof shapes that include valleys and dormers can keep water backed up on the roof. Homeowners may think that just adding insulation will do the trick, but since insulation doesn’t stop warm air leakage, that’s not enough.
Ice dams can happen any time you have above-freezing temperatures during the day and below-freezing temperatures at night. Water melts on those warmer days, regardless of the condition of your insulation or your attic temperature. Much of it will run off your roof during the day, but it’s a slow process. There’s ample time for it to refreeze, which often happens as the sun goes down and the nighttime lows approach.
It doesn’t need to be a downright warm day to cause runoff that leads to ice dams. It can happen with a 33F day and a 29F night. Even a 20-degree day with strong sunshine can melt a lot of snow.
The same things that prevent ice dams also help keep heating bills low – tight living spaces with proper insulation and proper attic venting. The combined goal is to keep the attic below freezing so it won’t melt snow sitting on the roof. The heat that escapes into the attic is the enemy here.
Here are some simple steps to find out if your attic is sealed off from heat:
First, test for air leakage by putting a huge fan, or “blower door,” in the front door that sucks the air out of the house. This makes leaks easier to find and measure. Get an auditor to help with this. The auditor can use an infrared scanner or other methods to pick out hot spots in walls and ceilings that indicate where heated air is leaking into the attic.
Next, the auditor evaluates if the house has enough insulation, keeping in mind that building code is a minimum and some houses might need more in order to stave off ice dams.
Finally, the third leg of the stool, consider whether additional venting is needed in the attic to let cold air come in under the roof deck (the wood the shingles are nailed to).
Ice dam victims have to be sure to fix the right thing. If the house isn’t sealed and insulated sufficiently, venting alone is counterproductive, because it can draw more warm air from the house into the attic.
A common misconception is that ice dams are a roof problem. Homeowners may replace their roofs and find to their dismay that nothing’s changed.
Rubber sheathing under the shingles is an extra step to keep water from seeping down to walls and ceilings. This is now a code requirement when a roof is replaced.
Even a tightly sealed, heavily insulated and perfectly vented house may yield to ice dams if deep snow sits on the roof for a long time. Snow acts as insulation, which can cause the snow on the roof to melt. And freeze-and-thaw weather cycles can’t be prevented.
So if there’s lots of snow, homeowners will want to add the low-tech way to prevent ice dams, the snow roof rake. It’s an unwieldy contraption, usually made of aluminum, which allows you to shovel your roof in much the same way you would shovel your driveway. The rakes range from lightweight scrapers to more sophisticated designs using little wheels and chutes.
You can’t have ice dams if there’s nothing on your roof to melt and create them. At the very least, remove the snow if you can, 10 feet from the edge. Let the sun hit the roof, especially in the areas where the ice dams form.
Rake with each snowfall so dams don’t get a chance to get started.
Whatever your strategy, it is not recommended to ever get up on the roof.
Stay safe and warm Minnesota! In the meantime, get your sleds fired up, sounds like we got more snow coming our way! If you have any questions at all about ice dams, please don’t hesitate to call our office. If you should experience water damage due to ice dams or frozen pipes, 24Restore is the only call you will need to make. Our highly trained team is here for you 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. NO job is too big or too small.
“24Restore came within an hour of our water damage to assess the problem and restore and reconstruct our kitchen and my office. Everyone from 24Restore was professional, kind and did an outstanding job of damage assessment and restoration.”
Your service was excellent. The young man was thorough and very dedicated to completing the job. He’s a good one. I would recommend your services to anyone who need them.
Your team has been absolutely amazing, professional, sympathetic and wonderful. They took my mess and made it manageable as I shed a few tears, which they also consoled with empathy. At a time when we have floods and tornados city wide you responded within hours. Thank, I am impressed and I have passed the word on to many.
Very good experience……everyone I dealt with through 24 Restore was very professional and very kind.
This note is a note of thanks and appreciation of the services provided…..we could even say our home looks better than before we incurred our water damage…Job well done!
I don’t often take the time to write a follow up complimentary letter. However I was very impressed with 24 Restore and felt they went above and beyond to surpass expectations with WOW service. Thank you for the great service and great job that your team did to get my house back in shape.
I have recommended them to many of my friends. They are the only service that I have ever used that always gets my stains out and that clean my carpets beautifully. I can’t say enough good thins about them
Thank you for all the work put in to get out home……It would have been an impossible task for us to have accomplished in such a short time. We appreciate all that you have done for us! We are so grateful!
Yes. I appreciated the ability to funnel all activities thru a one-stop shop proved to be very valuable in a disaster project such as ours demo, construction and finish as well as work directly with insurance company. The team has been professional and those on site have been respectful of our home and schedule.
Alex did a great job scheduling, coordinating, and keeping me informed. He made sure that everything was done in a timely manner. I always felt that my job was a priority. All the workmen did a great job and were very polite. I am pleased with the results. I would highly recommend your company!
From the time of initial contact to the time of job completion was 24 hrs. Very pleased with job outcome. Will definitely use you again. If ever in need.
Response time was awesome. We we’re bewildered by what was happening and what needed to be done. 24hr came in and took care of what needed to be done.
I thought 24 was very professional and timely work.
24Restore was very responsive and did a thorough job plus they cleaned up after themselves.
The job was exceptionally well done. You were recommended to me by Dennis Carlson, a freind and I would definatley refer 24restore to friends and family.
Very Professional!
Everyone was on top of everything and got back to me in a reasonable time. Clean up was done absolutely perfect at the end of each job.
The guys who worked here were great, polite, personable and hard workers. They did a great job! So thankful this is over!
Working with the employees at 24restore has been an easy process. They aimed to please.
Kudos to Shelli Abraham especially, she worked with the mortgage company and insurance company so I didn’t have to, I’m a caregiver for my husband with Dementia, she took the pressure off having to deal with them, thanks Shelli.
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