Does Your Home Ice Dam? This is why.

Ice dams are something that no homeowner in Park City wants forming on their home. Ice dams are dangerous and cause damage to your home.

An ice dam is a buildup of ice that forms at the edge of a roof and prevents melting snow from draining off the roof.

Ice dams are often found in the valley’s and eaves of a home's roof and can grow to extend tens of feet and weigh thousands of pounds

HOW DO ICE DAMS FORM?

Ice dams form from a complex interaction between the amount of heat loss from your home, the outside temperature, and snow cover.

After a snow storm that leaves snow accumulation on your roof, the formation of Ice dams becomes possible.

For ice dams to form, three conditions needs to be met: there needs to be snow on a homes roof, the outside temperature must be below 32 degrees F on average, and the surface temperature of the roof above your living space must be above 32 degrees F.

When these three factors happen in harmony over sustained periods, ice dams form.

As the snow on your roof begins to melt at the top where the surface temperature is above 32 degrees F, it melts to the edge of your roof that is below 32 degrees and freezes. As this pattern happens day after day, the ice accumulation grows.

Why does your roof surface heat up to above 32 degrees and allow this to happen? The answer is simple, insufficient insulation. If your roof doesn’t have enough insulation, the temperature from inside of your home rises and passes through to the surface of your roof and melts the bottom layer of snow that is sitting on your roof.

That is why ice dams from on your roof.