We all know the dangers that a frosty Illinois winter can bring. Icy roads and walkways pose a risk to all Frankfort residents, but there's another kind of frozen formation that can have an equally great impact on your life, or more specifically on your home. Ice dams are a common seasonal nuisance, but in many instances, they can also be a common seasonal danger.
These formations can cause a huge amount of damage to the structure of your home, damage that you might be unaware of.
What Causes Ice Dams?
Ice dams are caused by a complex mixture of cold and heat. For ice dams to form, there must be snow on the roof and the right mix of high and low temperatures in two important locations.
On average, the higher portions of your roof must be above 32°F, while the lower portions must be below 32°F, over a sustained period of time. This temperature imbalance is caused by heat escaping through holes in improperly applied attic insulation or missing air sealing. The outside of your roof should be uniformly cool, but because all heat rises, any escaping heat will keep the upper portion warm, while the lower parts will be left cooler. As the snow on the higher parts of the roof melts, it flows downward towards the much colder areas, where it will eventually refreeze and create an ice dam. This process repeats all winter, causing the dam to grow bigger and bigger the more the season goes on.
The Dangers of Ice Dams
In addition to the dangers of falling debris, ice dams can often cause an untold amount of damage to the internal and external structure of your home. These dams will only continue to grow bigger as they are fed by the melting snow, but they will also only accumulate on the lower portions of the roof. This means that after the dam grows to be a certain size, the melting liquid on the upper portions on the roof will flow down, but have no place to go.
As a result, the remaining water will collect behind the ice dam, but unable to reach the lower portions of the roof, it will remain in liquid form. This water can seep under your shingles and into your attic through small cracks and openings. This will not only rot the wood in your roof and attic, but can leak down into other portion of the house, causing damage ceilings, walls, and windows. Often, this damage can go unnoticed for long period of time, meaning that the ice dams on your home could already be causing you hundreds of dollars in future repair costs.
The good news is you don’t have to sit idly by and wait for future damage, you can take action today! While the ice found on the roads may be entirely out of your control, the ice dams on your roof are a mostly preventable problem. By lowering the amount of heat escaping your home through insulation repair and replacement, you can lower the temperature of your roof and eliminate the heat loss through your attic. Doing this will allow your home to stay ice dam free all winter long.
Interested in learning more about how to prevent or repair winter damage to you home? Contact Assured Insulation Solutions today for a consultation!