Roof Leak After Snow

Most roofing materials are designed to work under the influence of gravity.

Roof leak after snow.

A roof leak at the edge of a dormer can allow a lot of water to enter your home. In order to avoid melting snow and roof leaks you need to have very good insulation ventilation and an effective air barrier. Protection for the perishable areas of your roof. Likewise a heavy blanket of snow can hide the significance of an ice dam making it hard to ascertain it s size.

Heat leaking up from your home is melting the snowpack in the tight roof canyon. An ice dam occurs when snow melts and the water freezes when it hits the colder edges of your roof. The steeper your roof pitch the more ice it takes to create interior leaking see ice dam case study 09. The roof leaked a few days after a foot of snow had fallen.

In the photo you can still see signs of an ice dam. Rotten or missing trim or siding can allow water to leak behind flashing and into your roof. Worn out flashing or missing sealant can also cause roof leaks around dormers. It was warm enough for the snow to melt during the day but it would drop below freezeing at night.

The cold weather turns the super chilled water to ice and the ice pack begins to get thicker and thicker creating a dam quite like hoover dam but a much smaller. The soffit that meets the roof is one of the toughest areas to waterproof. This roof leaks during the snowy part of winter and during storms in the summer certainly due to poor flashing. Dormer leaks can be caused from a number of issues.