Winter weather can bring about roofing problems

By Harry Loomis

As large amounts of snow and ice finally start to thaw, some property owners are seeing issues in their roofing.

The heavy ice and snow build up causes a phenomenon called ice damming, where the ice builds over sloped, heated roofs and freezes.

Ice damming can lead to leakage indoors, and when the temperatures drop below freezing, leaks can be hard to treat.

“Sometimes when you have this weather, a leak is somewhat inevitable,” said Travis Baldwin, owner of A1 Roofing. “If the water has nowhere to go when it’s melting off and it hits that ice dam, then it builds up there and then it goes back up the roof. And water is not supposed to do that.”

One way to prevent leaks in severe weather can be with a moisture guard.

“St. Joseph has implemented a new building code,” Baldwin said. “That building code states that you have to have moisture guard that is two rows from the bottom edge of the roof up to deal with some of this type of weather.”

Typically the summer months see the most traffic for roofing companies. But since the thawing started, Baldwin said his company has seen around 30 calls per day.

“You really want a temperature of 35-45 degrees to be able to let the shingles actually seal down properly,” Baldwin said. “Sometimes putting a roof on in ambient temperatures that are cold can be the reason why this happens in the first place, because the tar strip is isn’t able to seal to the shingle below it. That way, when the water does run uphill, it has somewhere to go.

“I would suggest always putting a roof on before spring,” he continued. “That way you got warm weather ahead to seal the shingles down. That’s a big preventative thing you can do.”