What to Know: Winter Storm Damage
It’s officially wintertime and in Wisconsin that means the biting-cold air and stormy weather is back. The past few winters brought us record-breaking low temperatures, snowstorms and ice storms. As the temperatures drop, your home and property are at risk of damage due to heavy snow, freezing ice, and cold temperatures. Here’s a list of the types of damages your home faces and steps to preventing disasters.
Ice
When ice builds up on a house, the house is bound to experience damage. One of the biggest issues ice creates is an ice dam. Ice dams form when snow on your roof begins to melt and runs down to the edges of your roof. If temperatures drop again during the melting process (usually at night), the runoff will freeze at the edge of the roof. The frozen ice builds up until it forms large blockages on the roof. Such blockages prevent the rest of the snow from running off the roof. This results in leakage and water damage to your roof and upper rooms of your home.
To avoid ice dams, make sure your ceilings are properly insulated. This will prevent heat from escaping through the roof, which causes the snow to melt and starts the ice damming process.
Another problem winter weather brings is frozen pipes. Frozen pipes occur in homes that aren’t properly insulated or are especially drafty. The cold temperatures enter the home and reach the water moving around inside the plumbing system. The water then freezes and expands to create ice clusters. These ice clusters block the pipes, which increase the pressure in the pipes and eventually causes the pipes to burst.
To prevent frozen and bursting pipes, make sure your home is properly insulated, the heat is turned to 68 degrees or higher and the windows are properly sealed.
Snow
When snow piles up on a rooftop, it gets heavier and heavier with each inch. When there is too much weight the internal structure can weaken and even break causing a huge problem to the frame of your home. The average home can hold up to two feet of snow before it’s at risk of breaking. During a heavy snowfall make sure you are watching the amount of snow on your roof in order to avoid this type of breakage.
Fire
When the temperatures drop we warm ourselves up by turning up the heat, pulling out the space heaters and putting a log on the fire. However, some of these things put your home at risk of fire. Keep space heaters and log fires away from materials that easily catch fire. Be careful not to overload your electrical sockets, which can also result in fire.
Kelmann Restoration deals with everything from water damage, storm damage to fire restoration. For any emergency, we are here to help you and your family stays safe. For more information on how to prepare for these disasters read our blog post here.