Water Damage From Ice Dams In Your Trooper Attic

10/26/2017 (Permalink)

When snow accumulates on your roof in Trooper, a cycle of melting and freezing happens.

Water Damage From Ice Dams

When snow accumulates on your roof in Trooper, a cycle of melting and freezing happens. The snow ideally melts off the roof, into your gutters, and harmlessly flow to the ground. However, the warmer your attic is, the more melting there is. Typically, the water from this flows off the edge of your roof, but in some conditions, the roof’s edge stays under freezing, and the water refreezes at that point which makes an ice dam. Once the dam gets big enough, the melted snow pools behind it and forces its way back under your roof shingles and leaks into your home.

If you see water damage on exterior walls or ceilings in your Trooper home, it can be a warning that an ice dam is present and water and ice have forced their way into your attic. Besides fixing the ice dam, it is essential to recognize that you have a real water damage situation on your hands which needs the help of professionals such as our technicians at SERVPRO to stop any more damage from occurring to your structure.

Upon arriving at your home, we examine your attic space and all parts of the roof construction. We are looking to see if any roofing material is damaged and if so has it been permanently or temporarily patched? We look to see if the roof decking is affected and if the water flow is stopped. We look for any structural parts that are damaged and if the parts can be repaired.

The amount of equipment SERVPRO techs can get into an attic can be limited. Sheetrock can complicate drying. Once damaged sheetrock is demolished, structural components are relatively simple to dry. Plus, we might have to remove sheetrock to access areas within your attic.

Restoration of attics usually involves working with insulation. Wet fiberglass insulation can be saved and dried, and wet sheetrock or plaster under insulation might not be restorable. In almost every case where plaster or sheetrock begins to sag, we have to move the insulation to an undamaged area to reach the sagging sheetrock. Large insulation vacuums can be used to remove insulation and maybe save it for reuse. Bagging could work for smaller areas.

SERVPRO of Norristown dries your home out fast after ice dams have created water damage inside your attic and home. Residents in the areas of West Norriton, Evansburg, and Norristown can reach us around-the-clock at (610) 272-8520.

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