What Causes Ice-Damming And How to Prevent It?
January 6, 2014 | Filed under: Metal Roofing,News
What causes ice damming?
An ice dam occurs from unequal temperatures between the roof surface and the attic. Snowfall piles up on the roof and cools the surface of the roof. Heat from inside the home rises and melts the snow piled up on the roof. The melted snow trickles down the roof and when it meets colder temperature at the eave, it turns to ice. As snow continues to melt, some water becomes trapped above the ice dam. This pooled water has nowhere to go. Too often it finds an opening in the roof surface and causes a leak.
How To Prevent Ice-Damming?
There are a few ways to minimize ice damming.
- The first is to increase attic floor insulation. Better insulation reduces heat loss to the roof and thus less snow melts. The less melted snow, the less water turns into an ice dam. This also keeps heat inside your home.
- The second way is to improve attic ventilation. A properly ventilated and insulated attic will tend to equalize the outside surface temperature and inside roof temperature, thus minimizing the amount of snow melting on the roof.
- One more way is to install a “cold roof”. Metal lends itself well to this type of solution. The paint coating on a Schroer & Sons aluminum roof reflects the rays of the sun, staying cooler than asphalt. A cooler roof melts less and less ice-damming occurs.
Before we install our metal roof we take all these things into consideration. We ensure your roof is properly ventilated. We install a variety of ventilation systems, helping you decide which is best for your home.
If you are having problems with ice-damming on your roof, call Schroer & Sons today for a free consultation.
For more information on ice-damming, we recommend you check out the following site:
http://www.asktoddmiller.com/misc/snow-ice-dams-and-metal-roofing/