Winter is here and we have already felt the frosty wrath of winter’s snow, rain and freezing temperatures. Did anyone in your Frankfort, IL neighborhood experience ice dams last year? Maybe you dealt with the nightmare yourself, with ice dams on your own roof.
When ice dams form, it can wreak havoc on your attic, shingles, gutters, and the walls of your home. So, what can you do in your winter home prep to prevent ice dams this year?
Ice...Dam!
Ice dams form when melting snow freezes along the edge of your roof and prevents additional runoff water from properly draining down your gutters.
This happens when parts of the attic and roof have insufficient insulation, allowing heat from inside the home to melt accumulated snow on the roof. As that snow melts, it begins to drain down the roof; but as it hits the much colder edges the roof, it freezes again. This ice begins to build up over time, preventing future melting snow from draining.
How To Prevent Ice Dams
In order to prevent ice dams, you need a cold roof. So how can you keep your roof cold without sacrificing your own home comfort? Proper insulation!
How Insulation Really Works
Assured Insulation has been in many-an-attic in our years improving the overall performance of homes in Frankfort, IL and northwest Indiana. While many homeowners think insulation is for keeping the cold out, it’s actually the exact opposite. Insulation prevents heat from seeping out through your walls, attic, and crawl space/basement.
When your attic is lacking in insulation, that heat from your furnace is escaping your living space and melting the bottom layer of snow on your roof.
The Role Of an Energy Audit
Finding the areas where your insulation is lacking and any other areas your home could be losing heat in the winter begins with an energy audit. A professional energy audit, or home energy assessment, is composed of a series of diagnostic tests that scientifically locate the areas in your home where you are losing energy. Blower door tests and thermal imaging provide you and your Assured Insulation home performance specialist with the information you need to make your home:
More comfortable
More energy efficient
Safer and healthier
— all of these, in addition to locating areas in your attic that are leading to ice dams year after year.
Assured: Ice Dam Prevention Experts for Frankfort and All of the Chicago Southland
Whether you own a single home or run a multi-family property, if you’ve ever experienced the damage ice dams can incur come spring, we feel your pain and we want to help.
You know what they say: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” So, arm your home with the right tools to combat another bitter Midwest winter by calling the insulation experts at Assured. We’ve got the knowledge and experience you need to properly insulate your home this winter, and stay comfortable not just in the winter, but all year long.