We offer roof raking and roof snow removal in Minneapolis / St. Paul and surrounding suburbs. You can contract with us to come out to remove your snow after each snow event of 3 inches or more. We are always on call for you.
Preventing ice dams in the first place is the best way to protect your home from the damage ice dams can cause. Ice dams are created when the snow on the warmer peak of the roof melts and then refreezes when it gets to the cold edge of the roof. If your roof is functioning properly, the peak of your roof will be the same temperature as the outside air. When that is the case, ice dams will not form.
What is causing your roof to not perform properly? It can be one or all of three things.
- An insulation problem
- A ventilation problem
- Stacks and other gaps that are not sealed properly causing heat to escape into the attic.
Let’s look at each of these.
- Insulation. If your insulation is not adequate, heat from your living spaces will leak into your attic and heat your roof. Snow that lands on the warm peak will melt and refreeze along the edge of your roof where the roof surface matches the outside temperature. Additional insulation needs to be added to reduce or eliminate the heat from entering the attic.
- Ventilation. There will always be some heat that escapes into the attic. The attic needs to be ventilated so that heat easily and quickly escapes out of the attic. If it does not, ice dam will form. Increasing your ventilation will help prevent ice dams.
- Plumbing stacks, electrical conduit, a chimney or other items that travel through the attic to the outside where the gap around the item is not sealed properly. Heat easily enters around the gap into the attic and contributes to creating ice dams. Properly caulking and sealing these gaps can have a big impact on preventing ice dams.
Many older homes built in the 1940s and before have living spaces upstairs rather than attic spaces. In cases like these, there is not enough space between the living space and the roof to properly insulate and ventilate. Ice dams are unavoidable without redesigning the roof. In this case heat cables may help during certain milder weather patterns. The other solution is to keep the snow off the roof. Snow has to be removed immediately after a snow event due to how quickly ice dams can form.
We offer roof raking and roof snow removal in the Minneapolis / St. Paul and surrounding suburbs. You can contract with us to come out to remove your snow after each snow event of 3 inches or more. We are always on call for you.