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The log home in the picture below is located in the Winter Park area of the Colorado Rocky Mountains at about 8,000 feet in elevation. In a normal winter season Winter Park, CO receives over 300” of snow. The 2022-2023 winter is no normal winter. They already received that amount at the beginning of March and still have two of the snowiest months yet to come. The owners of this home contacted Heat Trace Specialists during their first winter in the home after it was built in 2018-2019. They had severe ice damming issues that were causing leaks in their new roof (as you can see from the before picture from the winter of 2019).
Winter Park Colorado gets an average of 347” of snow each year. The snow, and subsequential ice, can cause a variety of expensive problems to homes and commercial buildings, including structural damage. Our team here at Heat Trace Specialists received a call from a homeowner in Winter Park Colorado who was experiencing such issues.
Ice dams are a major problem faced by those living in any area that experiences freezing temperatures in the winter. As snow builds up on your roof, heat coming from poorly insulated areas of your home can cause uneven melting. The melted water then flows under the snow into the rain gutter, where it freezes into ice. Over time, the ice accumulates in the gutter, preventing later snow melt from draining properly. The water can then begin to damage your roof, allowing it to leak into your home and do extensive damage to the interior of your home.
Winter is, in many ways, the harshest time of year for both people and property. Besides the increase in illnesses such as colds and flus, the wintertime also sees a dramatic upswing in injuries related to accidents from falls and hypothermia. Furthermore, the winter weather can really mess up your property if you don’t take the appropriate precautions.
More than 500,000 people a year injure themselves while on ladders, while many thousands more injure themselves working on their rooftop. Nevertheless, it’s a job that needs to be done. Snow buildup on the roof can lead to ice dams, shingle damage, and even a collapsed roof.
Removing an ice dam, or a wall of ice that forms at the edge of your roof can be quite dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Often times people will try to remove the entire gutter from the house, thereby removing the ice dam from the house. But this usually results in severe damage to the roof and gutter system. Then, come springtime the water isn’t properly directed and the melted spring water just ends up flooding your basement. So refrain from ripping your gutters away from your home.
Tired of shoveling your driveway every time you get a little snow? Worried about the safety hazard that an icy driveway presents? Few people enjoy pulling out the shovel whenever a few inches of snow fall, but until recently it was something that had to be done. Snowy and icy driveways can cause slips and falls, and they can also be very hard to pull your car out of in the morning.
As winter approaches, you’ll want to make sure your home is sufficiently insulated against the oncoming cold. Winter brings the threat of pipe bursts, ice dams, and other serious issues but a little preparation can help prevent those potentially disastrous problems.
Winter weather can be very unpredictable — while one year may only see a few inches of snowfall, another year may see many feet of snow. That’s why it’s important to never become complacent about keeping your house protected against the ravages of harsh winter weather.
Whether you’re worried about falling around your own home or are concerned about the customers who walk around your business, looking into ways to prevent ground ice and snow will help you. One way you can avoid falling is by putting ice heating mats down in the winter.
You might take your rain gutters for granted sometimes, but they are much more functional than you might think. They perform the highly essential task of keeping water away from the foundation of your house, which keeps your basement from flooding. In the cold winter months, you need to protect against unnecessary gutter ice damage. Here are some easy ways to do that...
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