HOW TO MANAGE ICE & SNOW ON THE ROOF?
During the winter months winter storms can be very damaging to your roof system. Ice dams can be formed on the eaves and create leaks in your roof. Snow may slide off your roof like an avalanche that can cause problems with your gutters and material on your roof system. You can prevent these problems by cleaning the snow off your roof and cleaning your gutters.
Ice Dams
Ice dams can be formed due to heat loss through a poorly insulated or poorly ventilated house. They can also be formed from alternating thawing and freezing of the snow on the roof in a period of warm days and cold nights. These can cause blockages at the eaves of water backing up under the shingles and eventually leaking into the house.
Snow Build Up
If your roof system is not cleaned of snow build up this can cause an avalanche effect of snow flowing off your roof. This can cause damage to your gutters, rip off material from your roof and cause damage to objects on the ground, including people!.
Measuring roof snow and ice weight:
It is not the depth, but the weight of accumulated snow/ice moisture content that are critical in assessing your roof's vulnerability. Water content of snow may range from 3% for a very dry snow to 20% for compacted snow to nearly 100% for ice. Water per inch of depth weighs 5.2 pounds per square foot. Thus a modern roof designed to carry a snow load of 40 pounds per horizontal square foot is designed to support an equivalent of approximately 3' 6" of compacted snow.
Preventing Snow Build up and Ice Dams
De-Icing Tape:
You can install electrical heating cable. These cables are installed along the eaves of the roof. You will need to install these in the gutters and down the spouts. Installing de-icing cables will prevent ice dams from forming. Make sure you follow the manufactures instructions for install cable.
Fan and Soffit vents:
If you have poor ventilation in your attic you can prevent ice dams from forming by installing an attic fan and soffit vents. This prevents warm attic air that might melt the snow on the roof.
