Ice accumulation over the eaves, is a problem affecting many buildings in Canada. You need to fix ice damming soon if this is happening to you. That’s because if you don’t, you could have water leaking inside your home. You could also have chunks of ice tumbling over your gutters and crashing to the ground.
Fixing Ice Damming in Canada: Understanding The Causes
Ice damming occurs when snow melts, and refreezes at the lower edge of a roof. For this to happen, you need three things to be present at the same time:
- There must be an accumulation of snow or ice on top of your roof.
- The upper areas of your roof must be warm enough to melt snow and ice.
- The lower areas of your roof must be cold enough to refreeze this moisture.
Ice dams should not form on your roof, if any of these conditions are absent. You can spend your time and money snow raking, or fitting ice cables, but this does not fix the ice damming problem permanently. You need to find a way to prevent the moisture freezing across the lower areas of your roof.
The best way to fix a problem is to tackle the cause. Must homes in Canada are so well-insulated that not a thermo of heat escapes. Warm air rises as we know. This heat ends up in the attic, where it may have no way to escape.
If you climbed up into your attic on a cold, wintry snowy morning, and encountered warm, humid air, then there’s probably no need to check if you have ice dams. They would be there because all three conditions are present:
- There is an accumulation of snow or ice on the roof of your house.
- The upper areas of your roof are warm enough to melt snow and ice.
- The lower areas of your roof are cold enough to freeze this moisture.
The root cause of the problem is the warm, humid air in your roof. You should be able to prevent this happening, by ventilating your roof space.
Preventing Ice Damming With Effective Attic Ventilation
Valiant Exteriors could help fix the ice damming over your eaves, by fitting vents in your roof to draw the warm, humid air away. We are a small, family-owned business in Calgary, Alberta with an enviable reputation for quality work. Email the business owner, Martin Straczek. Get honest, impartial advice.
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