

Attic fans are extremely popular in colder regions since they help prevent ice damming from occurring in the cold winter months. Heavy loads of ice and snow on your roof can create serious problems. This will help keep the temperature of your attic as close to the outdoor temperature as possible which will help prevent the formation of ice dams. One thing you can do is increase your attic ventilation by installing and using an attic fan. As you've just learned, a warm attic can melt the snow on the roof and cause water to run down, refreeze and turn into ice dams. A lot of individuals think it's better to keep their attics warm during the wintertime, but actually, the best thing to do is to keep them as close to the outdoor temperature as you can. When you heat your attic improperly, it could result in many problems with water and ice buildup on your roof. The warm air then warms up your roof enough to raise the shingle's surface temperature, melting the snow on the rooftop. Without adequate insulation, it enables too much warm indoor air to escape into your attic area. This will increase the risk of water becoming stuck close to the roof's edge and refreezing into ice dams. For a portion of the roof to be below freezing, outside temperatures must also be. These are average temperatures over sustained periods of time.

There are various causes of ice dams, including:Īs mentioned, roofs that have a flatter pitch are more susceptible to ice dams since the water can't run off as fast as it would with steeper pitch roofs. For ice dams to form there must be snow on the roof and, at the same time, higher portions of the roof’s outside surface must be above 32 degrees F (freezing) while lower surfaces are below 32F. Ice dams are ice ridges that form on the edges of roofs and keep snow melt from being able to drain into the gutters. Ice dams can cause a lot of damage to roofs. There isn't anything for ice dams to stick to on metal roofs. While metal roofs fend off ice dams fairly well, steeply pitched metal roofs are superior to warding off ice dams. Metal roofs, on the other hand, aren't as susceptible to ice dams. You can equate it with rock climbers and how they require those little cracks or knobs to grab onto. These ridges, as well as the coarseness of asphalt shingles, can hold ice and snow in place easily.
ICE DAMS ROOFS FULL
Shingled roofs, unlike slippery metal roofs, are full of little ridges. Shingles form various small layers, providing ice and snow with endless small toeholds to dig into. Assistant manager Andy McRae said long-time homeowners know dealing with. If you're curious which roofs are more vulnerable to ice dams, in a nutshell, it's flat pitched roofs, particularly those with shingles. So far this season, the Mac-Groveland Ace hardware store has sold about 500 tubs of roof ice melt and 140 roof rakes.
