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Home & Garden Articles
Ice Dams Are Dangerous For Your House!
Sun 04 Mar 2007 - 12:52
Ice Dams Are Dangerous For Your House!
By Steven Briesemeister
If you live in a place where it is freezing cold in winter you must have seen icicles dangling from the roof tops and have marveled at the beauty of nature but have you thought about their impact on the well being of your house? Let me explain how these dangling icicles are literally stabbing your house to ill health by creating dangerous ice dams.
While it is freezing cold outside you turn up the heating in your house to keep yourself warm. The entire house is warm, even the ceilings of the house. These warm ceilings gradually become a little warm from the outside too. But there is ice and snow on the outside. This leads to the layer direct in contact with the warm ceiling to melt and convert into water. This water then flows towards the slope so that it is drained off. This is how the house roof is built.
But when this flowing water reaches the edge of the slope it again encounters freezing temperature and freezes. This in turn entraps the rest of the water underneath the sheet of snow. It may become a thin layer of ice too. This water is called ice dam formation. There is a dam of water and ice under the snow. Gradually, since this water has no outlet, it seeps into the house and thus destroying the ceiling, walls, gutter and the attic etc. It also damages the insulation in the house, shingles and the floors. It is dangerous ice dam forming and slowly destroying the house. If you look at the houses in your neighborhood while it is snowing you will be able to clearly see the points where the snow first melts. There is a great deal of variance in the temperature of the roof. More icicles you see, more dangerous ice dams these houses have.
What can you do if there is dangerous ice dam on your house?
The best thing that you can do is not allow the dangerous ice dam to form. If your attic is well insulated and sealed, the variations in the interior and the exterior temperature won't affect the exterior temperature of the roof and thus no dangerous ice dam will be formed. The heat distributing in the house won't affect the exteriors of the house. If you seal off any possible leaks from your house, then you should be ale to maintain a stable roof temperature. Proper and adequate ventilation in the attics also help to a great extent in preventing dangerous ice dams from forming.
As soon as you notice that dangerous ice dams are forming, you shouldn't delay and take action immediately. The more you put off the job, more severe the damage dangerous ice dams do. However you must keep in mind that you must not do something which may damage the roof and the insulation further. During winters, the roof becomes a dangerous place. The snow makes it very slippery and doing any work is not easy, hence it is always suggested that you call in a professional to do the job of removing and preventing the ice dams from forming. It is the safest option both for you and your roof.
Now days it has become quite easy for you to maintain your roof and avoid dangerous ice dam formation. The roofing manufacturers have come up with innovative products for the safety of your roof. These products are geared to prevent leakages by creating a barrier between the water and the out layer of your roof. There are sheets made of asphalt polymers which can used in your roof. These products can be used even when the problem of dangerous ice dam has not occurred or has already occurred. You may apply the regular roofing materials on top of these sheets. All these measures go a long way in protecting your house by keeping dangerous ice dams at bay.
As Long Island, LI Roofing Contractors, and Northern Virginia Roofing contractors we take great pride in maintaining customer satisfaction for all types of new roof installation and roof repair work for residential and commercial roofing accounts.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Briesemeister
http://EzineArticles.com/?Ice-Dams-Are-Dangerous-For-Your-House!&id=475935
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