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Fire & Water - Cleanup & Restoration

Everything You Need To Know About Ice Dams

12/9/2019 (Permalink)

snow on a roof Ice dams can cause significant harm to your home.

An ice dam is a frequent cause of winter storm damage to the home. Yet many people do not understand what ice dams are.


Ice dams are ridges of ice that form at the end of a roof. This blocks the melting snow on the roof from draining onto the ground. Instead, the water backs up on the roof and can leak into your home’s walls or ceiling.


This moisture doesn’t just cause water damage to your home, either. It can also lead to the growth of mold within your house.


Ice dams form due to uneven temperatures on the surface of the roof. This can result from excessive heat traveling to the roof through:

Chimneys
Air leakage
Exhaust systems

How To Prevent Ice Dams


Preventing an ice dam starts when your home is being built. Make sure that the roof and ceiling are insulted according to Thornton, CO building codes. You should also avoid skylights, recessed lights or attic heating ducts.


Similarly, you need to keep the ceiling of your home air-tight to limit the flow of warm air into the attic. This warm air can heat the roof, leading to ice dams.


What To Do During a Storm


When a winter storm arrives, the best way to prevent ice dams is to remove snow from the roof as soon as possible. Keep in mind, however, that some cleaning tools such as push brooms and rakes can also damage the roof.


If the ice dam does cause water to leak into your home, you can try to mitigate the damage. Hosing the roof with tap water creates channels for the roof water to drain through. However, this only works on a warm day, and the effect only lasts for a few days. To truly address the problem, you should contact a storm damage restoration company. You should also see if your insurance policy includes ice dam coverage.


Yet you can limit the amount of destruction by reducing the amount of heat that travels to the roof.

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