Winter came early this year and so did the damage from icicles, Ice Dams and the extended length it sat on your roofs edge, inside your gutters and downspouts.
Damaging ice dams typically begin within 10 days of sustained below freezing temperatures.
Your roof functions similarly to a mountain, where water flows down its slope and into the gutter system. During winter, snowfall accumulates on the roof, and its insulating properties trap the heat emanating from the attic and the roof deck. This trapped heat resides just above the shingles, causing the snow to melt into slush. This melted water gradually drains down the roof continuously, eventually reaching the colder eave edge and entering the gutter system. Once the slush reaches a point where it is no longer directly over the warmer attic area, it begins to refreeze. When the water and slush begin to refreeze and turn into ice it then prohibits the melted water to move and begins to dam the water as it begins to back-flow up the roof.
After approximately 10 days of consistently sub-freezing temperatures, the roof edge resembles a glacier scraping off the granules from the shingles and exerting pressure against the front face of the gutter system, which is the weakest component. Open gutters or even those equipped with filters and screens do not provide any additional strength to the gutter system, ensuring that it does not loosen up, pull away from the fascia boards due to the substantial weight of water, slush, and ice pressing against the weakest point of the gutter system.
Similarly to filling an empty plastic milk jug with water and placing it in the freezer, the water freezes and expands within the gutter, causing it to deform. The same water is now also frozen inside the downspouts and becomes impassable as it expands, potentially cracking or breaking the invisible seams that face the wall. Consequently, the downspout, completely filled and frozen, will prevent any water from the entire roof and gutter system from draining out. This frozen section can even remain impassable and plugged for an extended period, even during a complete thaw. Water and slush begin to back-flow under the roofs’ drip edge flashing, shingles, and into any cracks or crevices. When that water freezes, it expands them, making them wider and deeper. This entire process occurs continuously, concealed by the snow that covers it.
As water, snow, and ice accumulate within your gutter system and back-flow up on and beneath the roofing material, the absence of a waterproofing underlayment beneath the shingles causes water to seep in through the nails or any cracks or crevices. Regrettably, unlike Dennison Roofing & Gutter Toppers, most roofers neglect to install the waterproof underlayment over a clean roof deck, as mandated by all roofing manufacturers. This omission prevents the waterproof underlayment from properly adhering to the “clean roof deck,” rendering your roof susceptible to water infiltration. Consequently, the ice and water that back-flows up.
Photos on Left show and “Unclean Roof Deck” – Description of Clean Roof Deck Requirements on Right
the roof will still penetrate the underlayment, subjecting the interior of your home to water and ice leaks. Furthermore, a failure to install the ice and water shield over a “clean roof deck” also invalidates your roof’s warranty.
Dennison Roofing & Gutter Toppers consistently installs our waterproof underlayment over a “clean roof deck,” ensuring the prevention of roof leaks caused by ice dams. If we were to install Gutter Topper over your gutter system, it would facilitate the smooth sliding or calving of ice and snow from the front nose area of the Gutter Topper, thereby preventing the formation and accumulation of ice dams on the roofline. Additionally, the Gutter Topper panel incorporates a proprietary Ice Release System that expands and contracts in response to temperature fluctuations, effectively breaking up ice and facilitating its removal from the top of the gutter system.
Clean Roof Deck
Clean Roof Deck
Clean Roof Deck
In the winter months, homeowners often ask us the question of why their homes experience more icicles than their neighbors. This is a common concern, and the reason lies in the inability of ice dams to form preventing the movement of snow and ice off the roof. While homeowners can observe the visible movement of snow and ice off their roofs and gutters via icicles, their neighbors’ eave edges experience a reverse flow of water, slush, and ice. This back-flow causes severe granule loss and damage to the shingles and gutter systems. Your neighbors harbor the erroneous belief that their predicament is inconsequential solely because it remains concealed beneath the accumulation of snow atop the ice dams.
If you opt to upgrade your gutter system to the Heated Gutter Topper system, it will effectively prevent the formation of nearly all icicles while simultaneously ensuring that water continues to drain through your entire gutter and downspout system.
Heated Gutter Topper System – 10” of new Snow – Zero Degrees
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