Our roofers do roof shoveling here in southern Maine and we make sure to clear all of the snow and ice along the very edge of the roof which is called the eves to prevent ice dams from forming. I’m in a go through a standard method of clearing the snow from your roof quickly through this method. The best way to shovel a roof is to completely remove all the snow from the roof, and most of the time you only have to remove 3′ to 6′ feet long the use and overhangs to prevent the ice dams from building up.

What Causes Ice Dams Here In Maine

During the removal of the snow we will use a ladder hook that’ll hook along the Ridge and I roofers can get up on to that ladder and begin to shovel downward. Now this motion is important because you never want to get up under the shingle during the snow removal, and damage we have seen in the past is because someone with little or no experience has decided to shovel their own roof. In this really can cause some serious damage to the roofing shingles, and this only happens because of the inexperience.

You should always clear out the valleys around dormers, and any place the snow and ice will sit in freeze during the evening hours. Typically the sun comes up in the morning and at noon time it’s directly overhead, and then the sun falls below the trees after warming up all that snow and creating water, and at that point it begins to freeze them progressively work up under the shingles. This will happen every day and within 4 to 5 days you can have some serious damage, and that’s when you start having interior water leakage and at that point your insulation is probably going to be wet.

Prevent Water Damage Cause By Snow And Ice

Your insurance company will always tell you to shovel your roof after every storm about 6 inches or more, and our major shingle manufacturers always recommend clearing any storm above 2″ to 3″ inches. Here in Maine we have major storms that can drop 10” to 12” inches from each snow storm. Recently we had two back-to-back storms the delivered over 18 inches of snow, and this is a problem when it sits in a slow pitch roof. A couple of the issues that could arise are caving in of the roof structure from the heavyweight of wet snow, and as the snow begins to melt freeze it creates a solid heavy layer of ice, and you need to remove this to prevent interior water damage.

Your Insurance Company Will Tell You To Shovel Your Roof

Once you have 2 to 3 inches of ice and snow frozen to your roof shingles you are putting yourself in your home at risk, and if we get another snowstorm while that base of ice pack that is frozen to you roofing shingles this could be very problematic, and can cause you interior water damage to your home. Our local Maine roofers will come in and clear the base coat off the roof using calcium chloride, this will break through and melt the ice so we can remove that 2” to 3” inch layer frozen base coat off the roof.

David Deschaine’s roofers are very careful not to damage the roofing shingles during this process, and we are very careful when removing large icicles that could be frozen along the eves and in your gutters. We will knock off all the frozen icicles that could be hanging from your gutters, shovel 3’ to 6’ feet up the roof line to remove the base coat of ice under the shingles that could be frozen into the gutters, and treat that with a calcium chloride flakes or pellets – **Attention** Do not use rock salt.

Should I Use Rock Salt Or Calcium Chloride?

We quickly will remove all that snow and ice off the edges and offer a solution if your roof needs replace to help you prevent these ice dams from happening. We recommend the proper validation which venture attic from the eves to the Ridge, and also include ice and water shield protection that can help you during those cold nights with the ice begins to form an freeze up under the shingles. Call us today at 774-9200 or visit our website and schedule the roof shoveling here in Maine.