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More and more residents are calling roofing companies such as ARE Restoration in Greenwich for winter roof repairs because of ice dams that have formed on eves and gutters of homes, ARE owner Al Roth said. "Because we had as much snow as we did, it didn't just melt off or blow off roofs, it created ice dams," he said. "Roofs normally impervious to water were experiencing water melting into walls and windows of homes."
Ice dams are large clusters of ice that form at the edge of a roof on houses with poor insulation. When the sun melts the snow on a roof, the water seeps down and refreezes on the colder eves and in gutters. The ice dam creates a trough in which melted water runs off, seeping under shingles and dripping, or sometimes pouring, into the interior walls of the house. This can cause water damage on interior walls and produce mold.
One way to alleviate ice dams immediately is to shovel the roof or break channels in the ice dam so water can escape. "Normally repairs are not so severe," said Roth. "People ... are experiencing ice dams because of the amount of snow we had, and not knowing how it would affect their homes."
There's a one-time fix homeowners can do to ensure ice dams will not be a problem, said Roth. Gutters and shingles are removed so an ice-and-water shield can be put down. It is an impervious roof underlayment and ensures when that when shingles are put back, water does not get through and cannot leak into homes.
Be part of the conversation: Do you have ice dams on your roof from the harsh winter storms? Have you shoveled the snow off your roof?
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