When the snow begins to fall, you may want nothing more than to sit back, relax and watch as your world turns white. However, what you may not be aware of is that the snow can actually cause you and your roof a lot of problems. If enough snow builds up on your roof and has nowhere to go as it melts, the weight could cause your roof to being to sag or even collapse if the conditions become bad enough. The main perpetrators behind this problem are ice dams that may form on your Charleston roofing system.
Ice dams form on your roof when heat escapes your attic space. The heat causes the snow touching your shingles or other roofing materials to melt and run down to the edge of the roof. Once the water gets past the walls of your home, it freezes. If enough water freezes here, any additional snow that melts has nowhere to go but through the roof and into the living space.
Heat travels from the attic into the environment through attic bypasses. These bypasses could be caused by a failure in the sealants around the fireplace or exterior joints.