Most homeowners in Park City and around the country have never heard of a super insulated roof. Super insulated roofs are used in passive house building but they are also a great solution to solving ice dam problems. Let’s take a look at what a super insulated roof is.

What is a super insulated Roof?

Traditionally, a homes roof is insulated by either spray foam insulation or fiberglass batten insulation that is installed below are roofs deck between the roofing rafters. A super insulated roof maintains the traditional insulation below the roof deck but adds additional rigid insulation on top of the roof the deck. By installing insulation on the outside of the roofing deck, you help prevent heat transfer and eliminate thermal bridging.

Once the insulation has been installed, an additional roofing deck is screwed on top of the insulation and into the original roof sheathing. The surface roofing material is then installed on the roof deck that sits above the rigid insulation.

Why would a homeowner want a super insulated roof?

Super insulated roofs have two main advantage for homeowners; they are energy efficient and they prevent ice dams.

If your home doesn’t enough insulation on your roof installed, it makes your overall home far less efficient and requires more energy to heat and cool. Your roofs surface gets very hot during the summer and by not having sufficient insulation installed, a lot of the heat is transferred into your home. This drives up the temperature in your house which means you need to run your air conditioning more, increasing your cost of cooling.

The other big advantage of a super insulated roof is that it prevents ice dams from forming. Ice dams form because heat is transferred from the living areas of your home to the roof surface. As snow sits on your roof, it will melt above your living area and run towards the edge of your roof where it will freeze. As this keeps happening, ice builds up eventually turning into and ice dam.

A super insulated roof solves this problem by preventing heat transfer from your living area to your roofs surface. If the surface of your roof maintains a consistent temperature throughout the surface, ice dams won’t form.