GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After a wild week of weather in West Michigan, snow is piling up on a lot of roofs. If that snow sits there over the weekend, it could do some serious damage.
“We’re starting to get to the point now where we’re going to be seeing a lot of ice damming, so this is kind of the perfect season for it," said Bruno Segarra, senior estimator at ProCare.
Segarra from says heat from homes will start to melt the snow on the surface, but the cold air will freeze it again.
"That’ll start to freeze layers below the snow and what that does is it starts like freeze and water down, freeze and water down and that process will start creeping up underneath the roof materials," said Segarra.
He said if the snow and ice isn’t removed soon, it could mean serious damage to the roof and interior of a home.
"From there, depending on how old the roof is and what type of roofing materials you’re looking at, you’ll start getting water on the interior of the home," said Segarra.
Segarra says it’s cheaper to pay for snow removal now, rather than paying to repair the damage it causes later. They scrape the ice off, then use steam to melt what’s left. After that, they treat the roof with a calcium chloride to keep ice from forming.
Visit ProCare's website for more information.
