Snow Buildup on the Roof Causing Issues? Here’s How to Prevent & Resolve Them

1. Snow Buildup on the Roof Causing Issues? Here’s How to Prevent & Resolve Them It’s that time of year again – time for freezing temperatures, freezing rain, and lots (and lots) of snow. Aside from moving the snow off your car so you can get where you need to go, you also need to think about how all that snow is going to come off the roof. Here’s what you need to know about the potential dangers of snow buildup on your roof and how to prevent them. The Trouble with a Too-Warm Roof Your attic should be about the same temperature as the outdoor air. In fact, you should of an attic like a buffer between your living space and the outdoor environment. First, your attic must be properly ventilated on both sides to allow for proper airflow; this will help ensure the right temperature in both winter and summer and prevent numerous issues. You should also be certain that you have properly insulated not only the space between the ceiling of your attic and the roof, but also the space between your living space’s ceiling and the attic’s floor. When your roof is too warm, it can take a serious toll on the roof itself, your gutters, your landscaping, and other parts of your home. Why Snow Buildup Can Cause Roof Leaks In a perfect world, the snow on your roof would melt away gradually, drip into the gutter, flow along seamlessly, and exit through the perfectly-placed downspouts. However, if your roof is too warm, this isn’t likely to happen. Instead, only the layer of snow in contact with the roof itself will melt, and this can cause a few different problems: Avalanches: As the snow nearest the roof melts, it turns the entire area into a giant slip-and-slide for sheets of snow and ice. If you don’t have snow guards in place on your roof, these can slide completely off the roof and onto whatever happens to be below – the ground, your shrubs, your car, or even you. Ice Dams: Ice dams occur when the layer of snow closest to the roof melts due to the warmth of your roof, moves toward the edge of your roof, and then refreezes when it reaches the colder edge. As it refreezes, it starts to form a mound; eventually, the mound grows too large to allow any further water to flow, so it starts backing up and pooling on the roof. Over time, this can cause extensive damage. Sagging Gutters: Finally, if the ice buildup occurs inside your gutter, and if it continues to build up enough, it can add a great deal of weight to your gutter. Just one gallon of ice weighs almost eight pounds, so you can imagine the weight being put on your gutter hangers. Eventually, the gutters will start to sag (and they may even burst as ice expands), and they may even cause the hangers to pull away from your home completely, taking pieces of your home with them. The best way to prevent these issues is to make sure your attic is properly insulated. If this is not a project you can carry out immediately, then the next best step involves installing heat tape at the edge of your roof so that water can continue to flow – and also installing snow guards to help stop massive sheets of snow from sliding off the edge of the roof and onto anything below. Finally, removing the snow from your roof can also help to prevent some of these issues.