Wednesday, 11 February 2009 12:19 Last Updated on Saturday, 20 February 2010 12:58
A good detection of home heating loss can be detected quite simple if you live in the north with a significant amount of snow fall. Winter snow fall is the best time to see how well your home is losing or retaining heat. What translates into heat loss in the winter will translate into cooling loss in the summer.
Here are some tips to tell how your home is losing heat and how to fix the problem the correct way.
Icicle and Ice Dams
As kids we all enjoyed finding icicles as the shape and sparkle was intriguing. However, this is the first indication of heat loss from a home. Icicles or ice dams will appear on the bottom edge of the roof. Which indicate some type of heat loss from the home.Icicles and ice dams can cause damage to the roof, shingles, roof decking, and interior walls and ceilings. As the ice forms it pushes itself up and under shingles and roofing materials. The expansion of ice as it freezes forces the shingles and roofing materials apart. As melting occurs above the ice formations the water will run down the roof and up under the shingle where the ice has separated the roof material. The water can then freeze again overnight causing the roofing material to expand. This processes can occur over and over again until the the water reaches up the roof and just over the interior walls.
To answer the question of why the snow is melting off the roof and forming ice we will need to look inside the attic or conditioned space below the roof. The home can lose its' heat through the attic or space below the roof. The underside heat melts the snow turning it into water. With little insulation in the ceiling of this space the heat can escape from the home and start the melting process.
Parallel Vertical Lines On Roof
Parallel vertical lines on the roof that are equal distance apart is another sign your home is losing energy though the roof. The lines represent the roof trusses that hold up the roof. These trusses stay a bit colder than the space between the trusses. The snow melts more between the truss than it does directly under the truss. This causes the vertical lines of snow and or frost on the roof.
Possible Solutions
Shoveling Snow Off Roof
The underlying reason to shovel snow off the roof is to stop the icicles and ice dams from forming on the edge of the roof. Keeping the front of the roof clean will help stop ice dams from forming on the outer edge.
There are different products that will allow you to stand on the ground to shovel the snow off but these only work on a single story roof. If your home has a double story roof you would have to physically get on the roof to push the snow off. Getting on the roof can be very dangerous as it will become slippery as you walk across the roof. The falling snow can also cause damage as the weight of the snow can be up to 35 or more pounds. If getting on the roof is too risky for you you can call in a contractor to help get the snow off the roof.
Adding Heat Tape or Wire
There are product out there that will allow the melting of ice and snow on the edge of the roof. This is a heating element that you can place on the roof and or in the gutter to keep the edge of the roof free of snow and ice. These elements are expensive and are susceptible to weather damage. The one that goes on the roof is not too visually appealing as it takes away from the clean look of the roof. However, this maybe your only inexpensive option to curing your ice problems.
Adding Insulation
Adding more attic insulation is the best cost effective way to fix your home heat loss problem. Not only do you get a savings in the winter but you can get a savings for cooling your home in the summer. Now before you go up to the attic and start throwing in insulation there are some steps you need to take to make sure adding the extra insulation works.
Some Basic Physics
- First the idea is to keep the attic as close to the same temperature as it is outside. This way the snow on the bottom does not melt at a faster rate than the snow on top.
- In order to achieve step one the attic needs to breath a lot of air. The air needs to come in through the bottom edge of the roof only and escape through the top.
- To achieve step two you need to have a ridge vent(s) and soffit vents. The soffit vent is on the underside bttom edge of the roof and the ridge vent(s) is the vent at the highest point of the roof. The air will enter the bottom of the roof through the soffit vent then into the attic. It will travel upwards taking moist air and heat up to the top and out the ridge vent. As heated air rises out the ridge it pull with it fresh outside air from the soffit vent. The process occurs over and over again all throughout the year. This keeps the attic colder in the winter and cooler in the summer. It also keeps the moisture in the attic to a minimum. Moisture in an inclosed space is bad as it could cause mold and mildew inside that space.
- You can tell if you have a moisture problem along with bad ventelation in the attic by looking at the underside of your roofing nails. In cold weather the nails may have frost forming on them or they may actually be dripping water. Another way to tell is if you see water stains on the insulation and or if the roofing nails are rusted. More extreme cases of too much moisture can cause the underside of the roofing deck to grow mold and this can be a serious heath issue.
Adding The Insulation
- Once you create a ventilation system in the attic you can then add more insulation to the floor of the attic. Think about this, your core rectangle shaped home is like a picnic cooler. You need to insulate all sides of the box but not an unused attic. Keep in mind that the floor of the attic may or may not have a moisture barrier on it. The moisture barrier is either plastic or paper and stops moisture from moving through the home and up into the attic. A good rule of thumb when adding seoncd layer of insulation is not to add insulation with a vapor barrier as it will trap moisture between the layers.
- When adding the insulation you shoudl get the insulation just as thick on the outside edges of the attic floor as you do the inside. However, you do not want to close off your soffit vents. To achieve this you need to add some air chutes to the underside of the roof deck to allow air to come up through the soffit vents. Each space between a truss should have an air cute in it. These are made of cardboard or thin foam board.
- You should run the next layer of insulation perpendicular to the last layer.
Type of insulation
- Blown in cellulose or fiber fill works well as you can get it into tight spaces and around objects. It's faster and cheaper to install. However, this product has a tendency to compress over time and looses it efficiency as it compresses. It's also dusty and dirty to work in if you have to work in the attic at a later time.
- Fiberglass batts are harder to layout and more expensive as labor to lay them out takes time to cut around objects. However, they keep their insulating value a lot longer and they are easy to move if you need to work in the attic later on.
- There are a few products out there created to solve some issues of both batts and fiber fill and they are made by a variety of companies. Dow makes a fiber fill that is not itchy and suppose to keep it's insulation value over time. Johns Mainfield makes a product that the fiberglass is incapsulated into a bag with holes it it. The holes stop moisture buildup and the bags are easy to layout and place around objects. This bag/insulation concept is sometimes called an attic blanket as they roll out as one large blanket overtop the exisisting insulation.
Finding a Contractor
This is probably going to be difficult to do as you may think that a roofer is the person for the job. I would caution you on calling a roofer as most roofers just are experienced with replacing the roof and most would not want to take on the job as it would involve more than they are used to. You will need to find someone that is more like a handyman or skilled contractor, but you will need to be in control of the project. The contractor should have a good understanding of ventilation and insulation. Also the contractor you choose should have the right tools to complete the job as well. Scaffolding and other tall ladders may be needed for your homes roof. Please read our article on finding the right contractor Choosing a Michigan Builder.
Homes Without an Attic
There are homes without an open attic space or an area where a person can easily enter to add insulation. These homes will have a finished room directly under the roof deck. They usually have the greatest amount of heat loss as the space between the roof and finished area has only about four to six inches of insulation space. This amount of space does not allow for the required R-value needed to keep the home properly cooled or heated. So in order to keep the ice dams and icicles off the roof you may need to shovel the snow off or add heat tape/wire.
Is there a fix to adding insulation to these type of home? Yes, but it will be expensive. First, everything applies that was mentioned above about ventilation. The only difference is that the air chutes need to go all the way up the roof to the ridge vent(s). The cheapest way to achieve this is to remove the drywall from the underside of the trusses and build the celing lower. This will make the room smaller. However, it may not matter so much if the room had enough space to begin with.
The other direction you could go is that if your roof needed new shingles. A roofer could rip off the shingles and the decking and then add the insulation and air chutes and build up the roof trusses to the desired height.
Is there a fix to adding insulation to these type of home? Yes, but it will be expensive. First, everything applies that was mentioned above about ventilation. The only difference is that the air chutes need to go all the way up the roof to the ridge vent(s). The cheapest way to achieve this is to remove the drywall from the underside of the trusses and build the celing lower. This will make the room smaller. However, it may not matter so much if the room had enough space to begin with.
The other direction you could go is that if your roof needed new shingles. A roofer could rip off the shingles and the decking and then add the insulation and air chutes and build up the roof trusses to the desired height.
