If you live in Ontario, you know that our winters can be harsh. From the heavy snowfall to the biting cold, it’s no wonder that our roofs suffer at times. Over time, all of that wear and tear can lead to roof repairs. What are the most common causes of roof damage to homes in the Ontario area? Keep reading to learn more.

People depend on their roofs to shield them from dangerous weather conditions, along with their home. This is especially true in the winter, when severe weather might occur at any time. Snow and ice may shorten the lifespan of a roof because winter is one of the worst seasons for them. Understanding how snow and ice may impact your roof’s structural stability can help you maintain your roof in excellent shape for years to come.

Common Types Of Roof Damage From Snow or Ice

Snow and ice may damage your roof in several ways. Some of the most common types of winter-related roof damage are leaks, ice dams, and damage to the structure or materials. You should repair your roof as soon as possible once you notice one of these events happening to your property.

Leaks

Melting snow or ice can seep between cracks, tiles, or shingles and cause water to leak into your home. Look for signs of water damage, water dripping, or leaking from the ceilings.

Ice Dams

These form at the edge of a roof when warm air from the attic melts snow, which then refreezes once it hits colder areas like eaves or gutters. This dam can stop melting snow from draining off the roof, which can cause excess water to back up beneath the shingles.

Damage To Roofing Materials

Snow and ice can also cause physical damage to roofing materials like shingles, tile, and slate. This includes cracking, chipping, splitting, and warping due to freezing temperatures.

Structural Damage

Heavy loads of heavy wet snow or ice can collapse or affect the structure of your roof. This is especially true in older structures with drooping or sagging rafters. Get in touch with a licensed roofer to inspect your roof for structural issues before the damage gets worse. A professional roofing company will give you an accurate price estimation and plan, so your roof will be repaired effectively.

How To Prevent Snow & Ice Damage On Your Roof

Taking steps to minimize the risk of snow and ice damage on your roof is essential for it to last longer without needing costly repairs or replacements.

• Inspect your roof after each storm. Remove any debris that may have accumulated during the storm by using a rooftop rake or broom-type tool from the ground.
• Clear away snow when necessary by using an appropriate roof rake. Be sure to use a long-handled tool with a plastic blade and never climb up on the roof for this task.
• Make sure your gutters and downspouts are clear of debris so melting snow can drain away from your home.
• Inspect your attic to make sure it is properly insulated. This will help keep warm air from melting snow on your rooftop, leading to ice dams or other damaging conditions.
• Replace any damaged shingles, tiles, or slate before winter arrives in order to protect them from potential damage caused by heavy snowfall or freezing temperatures.

By taking the necessary precautions, you can make sure your roof is well-protected from winter weather and avoid costly repairs or replacements in the future. Taking these steps will help ensure that your roof lasts for many years to come. If you have any questions about your roof during the winter, please contact Armour Shield Roofing now.

Armour Shield Roofing strongly discourages homeowners from going up and down ladders or doing repairs on their roofs. The accidents and fatalities sustained by untrained individuals are tragic and avoidable by calling a professional roofing contractor. 

A complete roof replacement can be a big project. However, it is important to make sure that your roof is in good condition. A complete roof replacement can help to protect your home, increase property value, and keep your family safe. Take a look at what is typically included in a complete roof replacement.

How Long Does A Roof Replacement Take?

An average-sized home’s roof replacement process typically takes 2 to 4 days. This can vary depending on the condition and the size of property.

What Is The Roof Replacement Process?

Remove Existing Shingles

We carefully remove any existing shingles and discard them from the job site.  This is the first step of the process and it’s very important to ensure that the roof surface is free of any obstructions.

Check and Fix Roof Damages

If necessary, plywood is given a quick fix. If not, new plywood is installed to replace the old and damaged plywood. We will check the roof for damages and fix them all before we start the next step.

New Drip Edge

To divert the water toward the eavestroughs, we install a new drip edge at the base of the roof.  This ensures that the water is flowing away from your home, rather than collecting on the roof.

Ice and Water Membrane

Where necessary, we install an ice and water membrane to assist avoid potential harm from ice damming scenarios. This is a very important step during the roof replacement process.

Underlayment

We will install underlayment to offer another layer of defence against water leaking into the house. This is installed on the entire roof surface to give added protection.

Valley Flashings

Replace any outdated valley flashing with new ones if needed. To repair the outdated and deteriorating flashings in places like chimneys and walls, we install new flashing where necessary.

Roof Vents

Replace outdated roof vents, exhaust vents, and plumbing vent flashing. We make sure the roof vents are installed properly and that they are fully functional.

Shingles

Finally, we install shingles chosen by the customer to finish off the roof replacement process. We use high-quality materials and expert installation procedures to ensure that they are installed properly.

Final Cleanup

During final cleanup, any nails or metal particles are collected using magnetic equipment. We make sure that the entire job site is clean and tidy before we leave.

We guarantee that your roof will be in top condition and provide high-level protection. If you have any questions or concerns about the roof replacement process, or if you would like to get started on your roof replacement project, please do not hesitate to contact Armour Shield Roofing.

Armour Shield Roofing strongly discourages homeowners from going up and down ladders or doing repairs on their roofs. The accidents and fatalities sustained by untrained individuals are tragic and avoidable by calling a professional roofing contractor. 

If your roof needs to be replaced, you may be wondering if you can live in your home while the work is being done. The short answer is yes, you can stay in your house while the roofers do their job. However, there are a few things you need to keep in mind to make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible. Read on for tips on how to live in your home while getting a new roof.

Have you lifted a large pot of water? Heavy, isn’t it? Now, imagine many gallons of frozen rain and snow dammed at the bottom portion of your roof. As this bank of ice grows, it creates many problems for your roof, shingles and attic. But don’t worry, ice dams can be fixed!

Armour Shield Roofing strongly discourages homeowners from going up and down ladders or doing repairs on their roofs. The accidents and fatalities sustained by untrained individuals are tragic and avoidable by calling a professional roofing contractor.

What are the consequences of an accumulating hump of ice at the bottom edge of your roof? 

1. This barrier produced by frozen snow and ice prevents snow and rain from exiting correctly off your roof through the eaves and downspouts.
2. The underside layer of melted ice has nowhere to go but down and toward the warm interior of your attic. 
3. Like the oncoming stream of water approaching a beaver dam of sticks and logs, falling snow has no way to pass the dam of ice and snow to exit your roof. The snow becomes an even bigger block of very heavy ice, putting incredible strain on your eavestroughs, downspouts, lower shingles and roofing plywood.

Armour Shield Roofing cares very much about your roof. We take care of eavestrough cleaning and inspect your roof to prevent or repair ice damming. Please contact us below.

What causes the phenomenon called ice damming?

Your warm attic air heats the underside of the roof plywood, and the heat transfers upward through to the shingles that have snow laying on them. The snow melts, but mother nature wins and refreezes the roof moisture, filling the eavestroughs and downspouts with solid ice. 

The attic space transfers just enough heat to keep the lowest layer of ice melted, causing the plywood to rot and water to back up eventually under the shingles. The water turns to ice at night between the shingles, expands, and pushes the shingle layers apart. This cycle never corrects itself all winter and allows crevices between the shingles for water to leak down into the attic. 

The shingle damage is evident in shingle edges drying, becoming brittle, losing granules, and eventually blown-off shingles.

Without repairing the overall problem, this cycle continues all winter, year after year. 

What are the solutions to preventing ice dams before winter descends?

Your roof surface and attic space must remain at the same temperature. The upside to these remediations is less money is spent on your heating and cooling bills, which in turn rewards our environment.

You can achieve a neutral attic temperature in five ways:

1) Ventilate your roof to allow any warm attic air to escape.

Soffit vents, ridge vents, and roof vents should be part of your roof structure. 

Soffit vents are on the underside of your soffit (where your eavestroughs are attached). They draw in the cooler, lower air from the outdoors, which pushes the warmer attic air out through your ridge vent (a vent that runs the entire length of your roof along its top ridge) and individual roof vents. 

2) Seal your attic space from the heat of the lower floors of your home.

This means sealing the whole upper floor ceiling. Holes for lighting or venting must be well sealed with proper insulation, and recessed lighting must have air movement around their wired housing. Insulation and adequate taping around adequately sized individual boxes ensure the ventilation requirements for the lighting and the insulation requirements for the attic are met.

3) Ensure bathroom and laundry vents do not vent into your attic space.

All venting must go through walls or rigid venting that extends out of the top of the roof. Prevent the heat emanating from your vent pipe surfaces from transferring into your attic space by using foil-covered insulation sheathing made uniquely for this application.

4) All flashing must be correctly placed around the chimney, venting pipes, or skylights along with the use of their associated caulking.

The use of appropriate caulking, depending on the application of its use, whether for a chimney, skylight, or different flashing, is crucial with the use of flashing. 

5) Add the correct amount of insulation to your attic.

Make sure the outside soffit edges are left free, so the movement of cool air coming from your soffits pushes the warm air up and out through your roof vents.

Armour Shield Roofing suggests these quick fixes if there is no other option for now. However, ice dams must be addressed professionally to avoid accumulated damage.

Electrical coils are often attached to roofing down near the eavestroughs, and they also run through the eaves and downspouts.

A nylon casing filled with eco-friendly icemelt attached three feet up from your eves and allowed to hang down and into your eavestrough helps to melt the ice build-up, keeping roofing sections and portions of the eavestrough free. This promotes runoff. 

You should never tackle quick fixes that involve ladder climbing in the winter. Even though we can purchase a ladder, it does not mean we are impervious to climbing accidents, especially if we are not certified roofers. Slippery surfaces are hazardous, but winter slippery is an entirely different sort of dangerous. 

Armour Shield Roofing uses and promotes the use of an eco-friendly ice melt that protects plants, animals and our precious water system. 

Do not use salt or chloride-based products to work through the ice in the eavestroughs or on your sidewalks. 

• Chloride-based icemelt products perform by drawing moisture from whatever they touch. However, this effect is highly damaging to living cells, whether skin, animal fur, insects, plants, shrubs, grasses, or trees. 
• If allowed into waterways, these chloride-type products, although used in the past, have proved life-threatening to our fish and wildlife, reducing the oxygen in the water leading to extensive aquatic death.

Please call our friendly staff at (519) 858 5044 or contact us online for a no-pressure quote here.

Armour Shield Roofing strongly discourages homeowners from going up and down ladders or doing repairs on their roofs. The accidents and fatalities sustained by untrained individuals are tragic and avoidable by calling a professional roofing contractor.