With the month of February nearly over, the weather will be starting to warm up soon, and that means the snow which has accumulated on your roof is going to begin to melt. While melting snow signals spring, it can also signal some potentially serious problems are about to happen with your home if you aren’t careful. Melting snow turns into water, and continual water exposure on your roof could lead to rotting materials, leaks, and plenty of other problems.
So before spring officially begins, it’s time to start preparing your roof for what could happen during the spring months ahead. Here are a few simple, easy-to-follow steps that can make a world of difference when it comes to preventing your roof from sustaining serious damage as the snow begins to melt.
Clear Your Rain Gutters
Rain gutters play a huge role in preventing damage to your roof when snow begins to melt. However, they can only do their job when they’re clean and water can flow through them freely. Dirty gutters, or gutters that are filled with things like leaves, sticks, mud, dirt, and other debris, don’t allow melting snow to escape. This leads to standing water, which could then re-freeze into a solid chunk of ice. This chunk of ice could cause your rain gutter to come crashing down, or even form an ice dam on your roof. Ice dams are gigantic chunks of ice that have frozen on the eaves of your roof, which cause tremendous damage and are a major safety concern.
It may be cold outside, but now’s a great time to get out on a ladder, clean out your rain gutters, and make sure melting snow can freely and effortlessly enter your rain gutters and flow away from your home.
Sweep Away Large Chunks of Snow
One of the best ways to prevent melting snow from damaging your roof is to simply sweep it off your roof before it can ever melt! This way it melts on the ground, away from your roof, where it can’t turn into water that your roof has to deal with. Roof rakes are a great way to do this, as they let you stay down on ground level and effectively sweep snow off your roof with minimal effort or hassle. However, make sure you stay well clear of your roof when doing this—there could also be hidden chunks of ice on your roof, and falling ice can cause serious injury.
Dislodge or Melt Away Ice Dams
Lastly, ice dams are arguably the largest source of damage when snow begins to melt. These large blocks of ice that are created by previously melted snow re-freezing when it trickles down to a colder section of your roof down by the eaves. Ice dams not only prevent snow from being able to flow away after it melts, but they present a huge risk to your roof—the stagnant water and immense weight could lead to serious wear and tear on your roof, as well as wood rot, warping, and material damage.
The best way to stop ice dams as winter turns to spring is to simply prevent ice dams from ever happening. Regularly sweeping your roof with a rake can prevent dams from forming, but if you don’t have a rake you can still keep dams away fairly easily. A roof heater system can prevent ice from freezing by supplying a constant spell of heat to the most vulnerable areas of your roof. Specialized melting tablets can also prevent ice from forming. However, we strongly advise against using salt, as it creates water that could be harmful to anything below your roof, including grass or plants.
If you discover a leak as the snow starts to melt this year, call the Colorado Springs roofers from Divine Roofing, Inc. at (719) 497-1005 and request a repair appointment today!
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