How Snow and Ice Can Impact Your Roof

Winter is here! This time of year can give us beautiful picturesque snowdrifts that cover the top of our roofs and the branches of our trees. Sometimes beauty comes a price and most of the time that price is paid with your roof.

Ice Dams

When rain and snow falls it like to gather in your valleys (where two planes of roofing meet) and at the eaves (edge of your roof where the gutters are). The temperature rises and drops above the freezing mark throughout the winter causing ice damming. Ice damming is when ice begins to back up under you shingle which can eventually lead to leaks.

Solution: Ice & Water shield. Ice and water shield is a product that is adhered and nailed directly onto the wood of your decking within the valleys and at the eaves of your roof to withstand the affects of ice damming.

Freeze & Thaw

Shingles are designed to withstand the toughest of attacks from good ol’ Mother Nature. Some environments, specifically those that experience all the seasons can suffer from fluctuating temperatures. The newer the shingle the more malleable it is, but as roofing systems get older, the ability for the shingles to expand and contract without decay is reduced. If the shingles are cracking those cracks will only get larger as the shingles freeze and thaw. These cracks can eventually cause your shingle to completely break leaving the roof vulnerable to leaking.