Can Ice Dams Cause Mold in Your Branford Home?

12/7/2020 (Permalink)

The water damage that results from ice dams on your Branford roof can cause mold to grow and spread in your home.

While mold growth isn't very common in the winter, it's not impossible. So long as there is moisture and warm enough conditions, mold can thrive in your home. Here, we will review how ice dams cause mold in your Branford home.

How Ice Dams Form

Any time that there is snow or ice on your roof, your home is at risk of forming an ice dam. These form when the temperature inside of your attic is above freezing, which causes the snow and ice on the upper areas of your roof to melt. Snowmelt then runs down and refreezes at the edge of the roof. It refreezes at the edge because this area of your roof is not subject to the same attic heat loss as the ridge.

This melting and refreezing process is what forms the ice dam. If not removed or completely melted by warm temperatures, this problem will continue to worsen over time.

How Do Ice Dams Cause Mold?

Simply, ice dams can produce mold because of the water damage they cause in your home. As snow or ice continuously melts and refreezes on your roof, water will get behind the shingles and shift them when it refreezes. This exposes the lower level of your roof and causes roof leaks.

Roof leaks can cause water damage to wood, drywall, wallpaper, carpets, ceilings, floors, insulation, and more. Water damage also means that there is a moisture problem in your home. The moisture problem caused by ice dams will create the perfect environment for mold to grow. Mold thrives on moisture, and needs temperatures just warm enough to grow and spread.

When water damage goes unnoticed from your roof leak, mold can grow anywhere water and moisture are. This means you may find mold in your attic, on ceilings, insulation, carpets, inside walls, and more. In these cases, you will need both water damage restoration and mold remediation services to restore your home to pre-damage conditions.

Preventing Ice Dams and Mold

If you don't want ice dams causing mold in your home, you'll have to take steps to prevent them from forming in the first place. Dealing with the water damage and mold growth from ice on your roof can be costly and an unwanted burden.

You can help prevent ice dams by:

• Providing proper ventilation to your attic from the outside so that it stays below freezing
• Making sure your attic is properly insulated from your living space so that heat doesn't escape into it
• Making sure that no exhaust fans discharge into your attic and cause temperatures to rise
• Making sure that your roof and gutters are free of debris so that melting snow and ice can flow freely off of your roof
• Double-checking that any ductwork in your attic is properly sealed
• Using a roof rake to get excess snow off of your roof before it can melt and refreeze

How Can SERVPRO of Branford/Shoreline Help With Ice Dams?

Our highly trained team can help with every aspect of ice dams, from ice dam removal to water damage restoration, mold remediation, and reconstruction services. Our team is on call 24/7, 365 days a year to provide immediate emergency assistance.

Call today for a free damage estimate! 800-734-3213