Winter is, of course, known for having more precipitation than any other season. This means higher humidity levels coming from outside, affecting your home’s insulation or even the outside of your home. This would be even more true for houses with roofs that are not sealed correctly or have holes in them because the moisture becomes trapped inside and can contribute to rotting, mold and mildew growth, and other problems such as wood-destroying organisms.
When it starts raining during the winter months, you should check all your outside faucets and drainage systems to ensure they are not backing up and causing water damage to your roof. When roofing in the winter, roofers should discuss roof leaks with homeowners. The following are guidelines on what to do when your roof leaks during winter.
Inspect the Roof Leaks Early
The best advice for homeowners going through something similar is to have a roof inspection before winterizing it. This way, if your roof does need repair or replacement, you will know ahead of time. Additionally, once your roof gets repaired, all you may need is a simple insulation job which can easily be done after all of the snow melts.
How can you tell if your roof is leaking? One of the first signs of a roof leak is the presence of dark stains on ceilings and walls. While some people mistake this for mildew or dirt, it is probably an old roof leak. It is essential to ensure that the dark stain is indeed water damage and not chipping paint or, worse, caused by a leaky toilet or burst pipe. You should also be able to feel wetness under shingles with your hand. A flashlight will help you see wet spots during night inspections as well.
Another sign of a roof leak is mold near vents and pipes around the house. If there are no steamy pen marks on ceilings near the vents, this is almost certainly a roof leak. It can be easy to mistake moisture on your roof for snow or ice buildup during roof leak detection, but there are several ways to tell the difference.
For example, if you tap your vent pipe with a screwdriver, you will notice that ice tends to have a thicker sound than water when it is dripping onto wood, especially if it is exposed to sub-roofing. You can also check how easily old ice comes off the roof by scraping it gently with an aluminum window screen or something similar. If it is still solid and icy, the chances are good that it’s justice buildup and not water damage.
Homeowners should know that it is far better to pay a little now for some roofing specialists who understand what they are doing than wait until it rains or snows even more and end up with all kinds of water damage inside your home. The key here is not to panic but instead, get everything checked out before you have significant problems on your hands.
Seek Professional Roofing Services
Winter can be a difficult time for roofs. If you want to avoid ice dams and leaks, the best thing you can do is call local roofing professionals. Ice dams are caused by melting snow that freezes on your roof after nightfall and then begins to melt during the day due to the sun’s warmth. If this process starts too early on your roof, it can cause ice dams to form, which leads to roof damage and water damage inside your house if the dam breaks and water penetrates through small holes in your shingles or even downspouts that have not been properly installed or maintained.
Ice dams can be prevented by ensuring you have a layer of insulation around your home. This is most often achieved by installing more layers above your roof deck. Most local roofing professionals will be more than happy to provide this service for you, whether it’s through additional insulation or new shingles with a protective coating. Adding several inches of insulation around your home is also an environmentally-conscious decision because the less you use your heater, the more money you save on energy costs.
At the same time, snowfall is reduced by keeping warm air inside your house rather than allowing it to escape into the cold winter air. Of course, some local roofers can help if you have not yet had an ice dam form. They may recommend scaling back part of the snow on top of your roof before it melts and freezes in colder conditions further along in the winter months.
If scaled-back snow is not the solution, local roofing professionals may recommend installing flashing, ice, and water shields. This will prevent water from leaking into your home and causing damage to your roof decking or, worse, by entering wall cavities and rotting away at the studs inside your walls.
Regardless of what you choose to do about ice dams, local roofers can help you with all these potential solutions and other winter roof care that might be necessary. Such as extra ventilation for attics or skylights can become blocked by too much snow. A local roofer wants what’s best for your roof and your wallet, so they will provide an honest assessment of how to ensure a leak-proof home during the winter months.
Replace the Roofing Shingles
While asphalt shingles are a cheaper surface to cover a roof with, they tend to peel and crack when the water has gotten under them. This often leads the asphalt shingles to come loose from the underlying asphalt mat during wind storms. While asphalt is very useful for keeping roofs waterproof, asphalt tends to get brittle over time.
Once asphalt starts cracking and coming off of the top, it is only a matter of time before water gets into your home or business through these cracks in the asphalt, which leads to even more significant problems down the road. To protect your asphalt shingle roof from future damage, you should consider replacing asphalt shingles as soon as they start peeling away from your underlying asphalt mat underneath them.
There are many different asphalt shingle manufacturers on the market today. Most asphalt shingles are available in either three or four-tab varieties, with the four-tab asphalt shingles being a bit more expensive than their three-tab counterparts. If you are looking to keep costs low, then it is recommended that you look for asphalt shingles with at least an 80 lb. weight rating, although asphalt shingles with a higher wind rating may be required, given your geographic location.
Since asphalt shingles can come loose from your roof during strong winds, it is important to pick an asphalt shingle brand that has some warranty. This will give you some protection should the new asphalt shingles come unattached from your roof and find themselves landing on someone below. Since asphalt shingles can come loose from your roof during strong winds, it is important to pick an asphalt shingle brand that has some warranty.
This will give you some protection should the new asphalt shingles come unattached from your roof and find themselves landing on someone below. If you have problems with water leaking into your house because of a poorly done asphalt shingle repair, you might want to consider paying for a complete replacement rather than trying to patch the issue.
Consider Siding Replacement
If your roof is leaking in the wintertime, you may be able to solve your problem by replacing the siding on the exterior of your house. Leaks often occur when water gets into a wall cavity and freezes inside of a wall stud, then melts during the warmer part of a year and leaks through a hole or crack in the exterior covering of the house.
If this is happening, one solution is to have all of the siding removed from above where snow and ice tend to accumulate, down past where it would normally drip off on its own. The new pieces should overlap with the details below so that any future accumulations can drain properly from underneath instead of from within the wall itself.
Waterproofing materials should be used to fill in any voids that will collect water, and the exterior of the house should then be covered with new siding. So, if your roof is leaking during the wintertime due to ice dams, you may want to consider a replacement siding. The best way to go about this is to call up a contractor who can estimate the work.
Look For a Temporary Solution
When it is winter and your roof leaks, you might think that the only solution is to wait for the spring thaw, but that is not necessarily true. While it may be too chilly for roof repairs right now, some temporary solutions until winter passes. Fortunately, experts in roofing services give a few tips and tricks on fixing a leaky roof easily in the meantime.
If water is coming in through your chimney, try using a bucket or pan below it before calling an expensive plumber. Something may be stuck among the damper hardware inside the flue, causing the leak. Call an expert plumber to check all of this out during business hours when someone can come out and diagnose the problem. Then you can decide how to proceed.
If your roof is letting in water because it is old and porous, put a tarp over the leak until you have time to fix it completely. Be sure to fasten down any loose edges or use bricks or rocks at the corners so that wind does not catch onto it and make it worse.
For smaller leaks, grab an ice pack from your freezer and wrap it in a towel before stashing it under whatever roof part is leaking. This will help solidify any melted snow on your roof, add weight against shifting shingles and thus may cause leakage, and reduce further damage for 24-48 hours. If the leakage is in a section of your roof shingles, try using an ice pack to weigh them down.
Repair/ Replace Your Tile Roofing
A tile roof is a durable and attractive piece of home improvement, but even the sturdiest tile roofs can be damaged by weather and time. Whether your tile roof is leaking in the winter or needs some care after years of neglect, there are many ways to solve tile roofing problems.
The first step before repairing tile roofing is determining what kind of tile you have. Clay tiles are more prone to damage than concrete tiles and require different solutions for repair and replacement, so you should consult with a professional contractor who can provide guidance specific to your situation.
The tile roofing repair process begins with removing loose tiles, patching the underlying tile roofs, and applying a fresh layer of tile adhesive. For tile roofs in need of replacement, professional contractors should be able to quickly produce an estimate based on the number of damaged tiles and the difficulty involved in replacing them.
Your tile roofs typically absorb most of the damage from heavy storms and other inclement weather, but tile roofs can also suffer from general wear and tear over time. In this instance, tile roofs may need to be completely replaced, but you should consult with a contractor before replacing your tile roof if you have a good tile roof.
Wintertime presents a unique opportunity for residential roofing services. When roofs are leaking in homes, roofing professionals can do the business hot. Roofers are being called out to fix leaks on homes that have not been winterized with insulation or heat. When a home insurance claim has been filed for a roof that leaks during the winter months, there are many things you will want to be aware of.
Most home insurance providers will not cover a leak if it is due to melting snow or ice because the homeowner has done nothing wrong to bring on the damage. You will get more money from your home insurance company to make repairs if they can determine the source of the problem and fix it.