Hearth and Homes Inspections, LLC

This so called winter is just over half way through. I know a lot of winter enthusiasts who are upset or angry or just down right livid because they haven't been able to enjoy feet upon feet of snow so that they might take to the slopes to do some skiing or maybe to feel the snow pelting their faces as they fly down the hills on their sleds or maybe even just receiving the news on a chilly morning that you can go back to bed because school has been canceled, although no matter how hard it is to wake the young ones for school on a daily basis, once they hear that they can go back to bed they are usually to excited to sleep.

Homeowners on the other hand who on a yearly basis have to worry about their roofs leaking due to  ice dams or have to be on alert of their basements flooding if the mounds of snow melt and freeze repeatedly are breathing a sigh of relief thus far.

For those of you who's roofs  have ice dams on a regular basis, you should hire a licensed contractor and have him/her check your attic and make sure that the insulation is installed correctly and that it is not covering the vent holes in the soffit and curbing your attics ability to breathe correctly. During my inspections I have noticed as I am crawling around in the attics that there are a lot of them that are under insulated, even most of the newer built houses have the minimum  according to code. Not having enough insulation in your attic will allow the heat from the lower section of your house to escape into your attic space and that will cause the snow on your roof to melt, once the temperature drops that will cause the melted water on your roof and in your gutters to freeze which will in turn cause an ice dam and as the warm air in your attic unfreezes the dam that water will work it's way back up your roof and possibly under your shingles.

Beefing up the insulation in your attic and making sure that it is installed correctly should put an end to your " dam" problems.