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Ceiling Leak From Ice Dam? Here's What To Do
1/5/2021 (Permalink)
The ceiling leaks from ice dams can cause major water damage and mold growth in your New Jersey home.
In the snowy winter months in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, ice dams can be a constant battle for homeowners. When you find a leak from an ice dam, you may feel like you're not sure what else you can do to prevent them. Here, we will review what to do when you have a ceiling leak from an ice dam.
How to Handle Ceiling Leaks From An Ice Dam
1. Act Fast!
Once an ice dam forms on your roof and begins causing leaks, you need to act quickly. The longer you wait to address the problem, the more likely it is for extensive water damage, mold growth, or structural deterioration to damage your home.
2. Call A Local Ice Dam Removal Company
When you don't remove the ice dam on your roof, melting snow and ice will only continue to leak into your home. That means that any efforts you make to dry wet areas or to clean up water will only be ruined.
While there are many DIY remedies for ice dams, we always recommend calling a professional for removal. This is because many of the DIY remedies are dangerous or can cause even more damage to your roof in the process. Chipping off ice with a rubber mallet can break off shingles and using calcium chloride to melt the block of ice can also deteriorate roof shingles.
Professional ice dam removal companies use steam machines, which safely and effectively melt the blocks of snow and ice right off your roof. This method is the quickest, safest, and most effective. The average cost to remove an them from your roof is $1,000.
3. File An Insurance Claim
The good news for homeowners dealing with ceiling leaks from ice dams is that the damage caused by them is covered by your insurance policy. You'll still need to pay out of pocket to remove it, but you won't have to worry about paying thousands for roof repairs or water damage restoration services. To make a stressful situation easier, these companies also deal with your insurance company and can directly bill them for services.
4. Call A Water Damage Restoration Company in New Jersey
Once you've filed your claim and taken action to remove your ice dam, the next call should be to your local water damage restoration company, like SERVPRO of Greater Hunterdon County. A water damage company can restore your home to pre-damage conditions by addressing all wet areas, mold growth, or structural deterioration.
When you call SERVPRO of Greater Hunterdon County to cleanup after a ceiling leak from an ice dam, we do the following:
- Take detailed information on the water damage in your home
- Send out a Project Manager to inspect all damages, create your drying & restoration plan, and explain the process in full
- Provide emergency water removal services 24/7
- Set up all needed drying equipment, such as air mover, dehumidifiers, or floor mats
- Perform demolition of wet areas as needed to ensure proper drying
- Perform mold remediation as needed
- In-house construction team takes over to make sure your home is brought back to pre-damage conditions
5. Have Any Damage To Your Roof Repaired
After you've removed snow and ice from your roof, you should call your local roofing contractor to inspect for damages, especially if the ice dam caused any roof leaks. While it may seem to your eyes there's no damages, a professional should determine whether or not repairs are required.
A roofing professional will look for dark patches, missing shingles, damaged shingles, wet attic insulation, roof sagging, and more to create a repair plan for your roof. If you don't take steps to have your roof repaired, you won't be able to stop the leaks if ice dams form during the next snowfall.
6. Prevent Ice Dams in The Future
Preventing ice dams is important so that your home doesn't sustain water damage every time a heavy snowstorm comes through New Jersey. To help prevent them from forming on your roof, take the following steps:
- Use a roof rake to remove excess snow from your roof
- Insulate your attic from your living space to keep heat out
- Have a roofing contractor inspect the ventilation of your roof and make updates as needed to keep it cool
- Clean your gutters every fall so that water flows freely away from your roof