With the recent snow and cold weather, a lot of homes look like this photo with many icicles. Although this may bring back nostalgic memories of grandma’s house, it’s actually a serious sign that you have something wrong in your attic. Icicles are a sign of snow melting off your roof and creating ice dams. Ice dams frequently lead to roof leaks or roof damage. The reason for this problem, as demonstrated by icicles, is due to insufficient attic insulation and/or ventilation.
There are two components to proper roof performance. First an attic should be as cold as the outside temperature. To achieve this, having a minimum of 12” of attic insulation is required. This keeps the warm air inside the house. The second component to roof performance is ventilation. The purpose of ventilation is to remove any heat that would escape into the attic. This is achieved by perforated eave vents, roof ridge vents, insulation baffles, and roof ventilators.
If you have icicles at your eave, contact for a review of your attic insulation and ventilation to avoid costly leaks and roof repairs.
