| Buying a new home for the first time is quite | | | | your roof to melt. The water trickles down slowly to |
| exciting, especially if you have been living in rented | | | | the edge of the roof where the temperature is much |
| accommodations until now. It is a major commitment | | | | cooler and freezes, forming a thin layer of ice. After |
| on your part and you need to be prepared for | | | | a few days the ice builds up. Some of the water |
| handling the maintenance and repairs on your home | | | | drips over the edge and forms icicles. You may like |
| that were usually handled by the landlord where you | | | | the look of icicles along the edge of your roof, but |
| rented. Roof repair needs to be at the top of your | | | | this is the first sign you are about to experience roof |
| list for home care, especially when it is time to | | | | leaks. |
| prepare for severe weather conditions. When you | | | | Not all the melting water makes it over the edge of |
| lived in an apartment building you may never have | | | | the roof. It begins to back up behind the ridge of ice |
| considered things like ice dams on your roof and how | | | | along the edge and gets under the roof shingles. Left |
| they can cause leaks inside your living space. | | | | unattended, such a volume of water backs up that it |
| The concept of an ice dam on your roof may sound | | | | has no place to go but through the roof platform into |
| strange at first but when you understand how the | | | | the attic structure below. You’ll know something |
| heat from inside your home interacts with the cold air | | | | is wrong when you notice wet patches in your ceiling |
| outside it makes perfect sense. The problem starts | | | | and walls. |
| with the tendency of hot air to rise inside a house. If | | | | You have some options to prevent ice dams from |
| you have ever stood on a stepladder to change a | | | | giving you a leaky roof. You can climb up on your |
| light bulb in the winter you probably noticed how | | | | roof every few days in the winter and scrape the |
| much warmer the air at ceiling level felt compared | | | | snow off with a snow shovel but this can get old |
| with the air at floor level. Warm air is lighter than cool | | | | pretty quickly. To get rid of the problem for good |
| air and will rise to the highest point inside a given | | | | you will need a decent layer of insulation in the attic |
| space. It will rise all the way to the peak of your | | | | and proper roof vents to keep the air circulating |
| attic. | | | | evenly. These preventative measures will require |
| If your roof is not well insulated the warm air in your | | | | some cash outlay in the beginning but will save you |
| attic will eventually cause the snow on the peak of | | | | from a hefty roof repair expense in the long run. |