Hi everybody! This is Tracy Bookman owner of Homestead Roofing and welcome to
today's weekly walk in the park where we take three minutes to answer your
questions about roof repairs, roof replacements, and the insurance claim
process. On this wintry day we're going to answer a very appropriate question
about your roof: what is an ice dam?
So Colorado's Front Range has historically had a very mild and
temperate climate in the wintertime however we do get those days just like
today where the snow starts building up and then oftentimes that's followed by a
day or several days of clear sunny weather. But oftentimes even though it's
sunny the temperatures don't get above the teens or 20s. So those are conditions
that are perfect for creating an ice dam. The way an ice dam forms on your roof is
when you've got some snow sitting up there six to eight inches is typically
what we see maybe twelve inches. We rarely ever get that much snow here but
when we do what happens is the heat from inside the house going up through the
attic and it's warming that snow from underneath and so the snow is melting
and then you get that clear sunny day and even though it's not real warm that
sun is also melting the snow from the top so then the the melted snow starts
running down the shingles and then when it gets out to your soffit box which is
where your gutter is that's called your eve when it gets out there there's no
more interior heat to warm that up from underneath and then it freezes. So now
what you have is out at the the soffit you've got this this layer of frozen
snow or ice or maybe even it's just frozen slush. Then what happens is maybe
during the night you know that freezes even more when the temperatures are
really cold the next day maybe the sun comes out you crank up your heater more
melting comes more snow melts comes down your roof reaches that soffit box and
freezes again during the night when it's cold. That happens maybe repeatedly and
then that ice starts building up on top of your shingles a lot of times it what
happens is it starts building up and kind of infiltrating in between the
shingles and your underlayment or the roof deck.
If it happens repeatedly that's when an ice dam becomes a real problem for a
homeowner because what happens is then when that starts melting again as that
ice pushes back up the roof and reaches the space that's over the attic that has
some heat in it well then that starts melting and that water can start
following nails and staples down through the underlayment and down through the
wood decking into your attic. And when that happens then water can start
seeping out of that soffit box or attic going down the exterior of the wall like
you can see in this photo right here of this house. A bigger problem is when that
water starts coming out of the attic or through the soffit box on the inside of
your house because then you're going to notice that in your drywall and in your
ceiling. The big question is what do you do about an ice dam? Well they're really
kind of two different approaches you can take. One is to try to completely prevent
the ice dams and that involves installing either heat tape at the eaves
or and in the valleys or they make a special kind of heated panel which we're
kind of investigating. That's an attempt to just completely eliminate the ice dam
altogether. The other approach is to try to mitigate
against the water from getting inside your house.
Acknowledge that the ice dams going to occur but take steps to keep the water
from coming into the house. Instead of trying to prevent the ice dam from
occurring at all what happens is a roofer will install a product called ice and
water shield at all the eaves and also possibly in the valleys sometimes along
the side walls or head walls on a house. It is designed to extend two feet past
the interior wall line. So it covers the whole soffit box and goes two feet past
the interior wall line. And this is a kind of a rubberized underlayment
product and so it seals around the nails and it's specifically designed to
prevent that melting water from following nails or following staples
and going down through the wood decking. So right here is a photo of a pretty
drastic example of what an ice dam can do once it starts getting into your
soffit box. Yes that that ice can start moving up your roof but once it gets
inside you can start building up icicles and probably on this photo it's probably
difficult to see but there's a solid block of ice down at the bottom of that
soffit box and then that was what was leaking through the exterior and leaving
that big stain on the stucco. So that's what ice and water shield is designed to
try to prevent not to prevent the ice dam from forming but to simply keep that
water from coming down inside of the attic space or the soffit box. I hope that
answers your question of what is an ice dam. Please leave us any more questions
that you might have. Leave us a comment, like and share this video if you've got
any other questions give us a call at our office right here at this phone
number 719.433.6991 you can also visit our
website where we've got a ton of information and tips more frequently
asked questions on our website right down here HomesteadRoofingColorado.com
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when we publish new videos. Otherwise I'm Tracy Bookman owner of Homestead Roofing
and we'll see you on our next weekly walk in the park.