Steaming Roof


pghmyn

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I am looking for some help on my roof situation, or more so an answer.

 

I have a typical shingled roof, jet black in color. It snowed yesterday, quite a bit. The snow is melting off my roof, and is actually steaming. I know my house is not properly insulated, but I'm hoping that is not the cause of the snow melting. Rather, I'm hoping that it is the extremely bright sun beating down on the black shingles. I'd rather the snow not melt like this at all, but I'd more prefer my heat to stay IN the house.

 

I have been in my attic space along the eave section of my roof. I actually had to spend quite a bit of time in there while working on the house. It was cold enough in there that I could see my breath, so I didn't think that too much heat was being lost to this area of the attic. But, this is where most of the snow is melting first.

 

My question being, is steam coming off the roof something to really be concerned about, or am I overreacting to something that is commonly caused from a bright sunny day?

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Yes, and no. If the black shingle is collecting solar energy, then snow melt will happen evenly wherever the sun hits. Steaming is transpiration, where snow flashes straight to steam, even while not at its boiling point. The steam itself is no big deal. What causes problems is if the insulation is poor enough to cause the snow to melt above the heated space but not the eaves. Then you will get ice dams. Check for ice damming at the eave and that will tell you how concerned to be.

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I am looking for some help on my roof situation, or more so an answer.

 

I have a typical shingled roof, jet black in color. It snowed yesterday, quite a bit. The snow is melting off my roof, and is actually steaming. I know my house is not properly insulated, but I'm hoping that is not the cause of the snow melting. Rather, I'm hoping that it is the extremely bright sun beating down on the black shingles. I'd rather the snow not melt like this at all, but I'd more prefer my heat to stay IN the house.

 

I have been in my attic space along the eave section of my roof. I actually had to spend quite a bit of time in there while working on the house. It was cold enough in there that I could see my breath, so I didn't think that too much heat was being lost to this area of the attic. But, this is where most of the snow is melting first.

 

My question being, is steam coming off the roof something to really be concerned about, or am I overreacting to something that is commonly caused from a bright sunny day?

Look at the other homes around you,   are they steaming? Is snow still on the roof's  If they have snow, you are underinsulated!

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I checked mine and I must have the same problem.

Seriously though, I have a dark roof and in the summer, just as a rain shower starts, I've seen steam coming from mine. I believe it's due to the dark roof like Shaffer said.

  But you live where summer is 11 months long, with 1 month fall!

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Make sure you're getting adequate ventilation up there.  It's not whether or not you have enough insulation, it's if the heat up there is being ventilated properly. 

If not you'll get condensate which breeds mold.  Have a pro check it out.

The house has had improper insulation for a very long time, and there isn't mold yet. The soffets are completely covered though, and I'm going to be working to allow them the breathe. I want to eventually get a pro in here to re-insulate all my attic spaces, but that will cost me some money...

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