Winter may not be the best time to put a new roof on your house. From icy conditions to materials being more brittle in cold weather, it makes one wish for the warmer days of summer. Even so, there’s a hidden gem in winter as it relates to your roof–winter can tell you things about your home’s energy efficiency that no other season can.
You’ve probably heard people talk about how there shouldn’t be patches of melted snow or ice on your roof. Instead, the roof should appear to have a pretty even distribution of snow or ice. There’s some truth to this as large areas of thawing may be indicators of an underlying problem.
Large melted or thawed areas on the surface of a roof are usually indicative of heat loss. In simple terms, this means that the warm air from the living space of the home is leaking up into the attic. This release of warm air into the attic then warms the underside of the roof decking, creating the thawed patches on the surface of the roof.
Now, there are other tentative reasons for certain areas of a roof to thaw before others. Direct sunlight, for example, may sometimes thaw one area before hitting another. In general terms, however, selectively thawed sections of your roof are good indicators of energy leakage.
Think your roof has an energy leak? Additional questions? Feel free to drop a comment below.
At the same time, let us know if there are any other roofing-related questions that you may have. We’d be happy to consider them for future posts.
Thank you!
