How Ice Dams Cause Damage to Your Home

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We’ve had quite the winter so far here in Coastal Maine and the Portland area. With a constant fluctuation in temperatures, many homeowners are experiencing icicles, known as ice dams, on their gutters. Ice dams can not only be difficult to remove, but unfortunately, they can cause severe damage to your home as well. 

At Evergreen Home Performance, we understand how frustrating it can be to deal with ice dams, especially on top of all the other winter maintenance your home needs. Luckily, we can solve the issue with our comprehensive insulation and air sealing services. 

What Causes Ice Dams?

Ice dams occur when heat escapes from your attic and prematurely melts snow that has accumulated on your roof. As the snow melt flows to the eaves, or edges of your roof, it will then refreeze and create a blockage that prevents water from draining properly from your gutters. 

How Ice Dams Lead to Damage

When ice dams accumulate on your drip edge or gutters, the water from snowmelt will have nowhere left to go and can back up underneath your roofing and leak inside your home. This can lead to numerous problems for your home health and structure, such as:

  • Roof damage & leaks

  • Broken gutters

  • Wet & damaged insulation

  • Moisture & mold growth

  • Sagged ceilings

  • Wood rot 

  • Stained drywall or plaster

  • Peeling paint

The icicles on your gutters can also cause damage to HVAC equipment or parked cars outside of your home and even pose a fall risk to people walking by.  

Ice Dam Prevention with Air Sealing & Insulation

Removing ice dams after they have formed can be both difficult and dangerous. Luckily, Evergreen Home Performance can help you prevent ice dams at the source with air sealing and attic insulation. Air sealing helps to stop warm air from escaping your home while insulation helps prevent heat transfer. 

These two essential services work together to stop the snow from unevenly melting on your roof and come with many whole-home benefits, including:

  • Lower heating & cooling costs

  • More consistent temperatures

  • Improved indoor air quality

  • No more hot attics in the summer 

Find Reliable Ice Dam Solutions with Evergreen Home Performance

To find the most accurate and reliable ice dam solutions for your home, we recommend getting started with a free consult or an energy audit. This crucial step allows our team to pinpoint exactly where attic insulation and air sealing is needed to prevent heat from escaping out your roof and causing ice dams to form. Insulation and air sealing are also eligible for several incentives in Coastal Maine and Portland, like rebates from Efficiency Maine.

Evergreen Home Performance has been helping homeowners in our community with their home efficiency needs for nearly 20 years. We have extensive knowledge of building science principles that aid our team to find the right insulation type for your home’s specific needs and make sure it’s installed correctly. Don’t just deal with ice dams every winter, solve them for good with Evergreen Home Performance.

Get started with ice dam prevention for your home today. Call 207-594-2244 or contact us online to get started.

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From start to finish, our experience was incredible. Justin was extremely helpful. The crew was fast, friendly, and efficient. And most importantly, our home is WAY warmer and our heating is less costly. I'd highly recommend evergreen to anyone looking to upgrade their home!

John S.

South Portland

We couldn't be more pleased with the easy, professional, high-value service from Evergreen. Having purchased an older home that had been in our family for generations, we needed multiple upgrades, including insulation throughout. Evergreen insulated our attic with blown-in cellulose, built a new, super-insulated attic hatch, sealed off the old one (which was just a piece of plywood in a closet ceiling), and also talked us through our best options to upgrade our heating system given the plans we have to add onto the house.

Tom G.

South Thomaston

We just finished a large project air sealing and reinsulating our 1890s basement and attic. It had been completely renovated 8 years ago, but still felt cold, and lacked proper energy assessment and corrections. We met with Justin in December and were very impressed with his knowledge, professionalism and communication skills and knew Evergreen was who we wanted to work with. Dave was our on hands project manager and was excellent. The office staff has been quick to respond and helpful as well when needed.

E Gallant

Kennebunk

In the final stages of selling our home, and with a closing date set, an inspection came across an unanticipated issue in our attic. We quickly called in contractors, but nobody was able to identify the source of the problem. Then we thought of Evergreen. Brian Robinson was on site the next morning and immediately identified the source (a faulty roofing job completed three years earlier which had effectively sealed up portions of the ridge vent and restricted air flow - not easily visible with a quick inspection).

Robin McIntosh

Camden

Several years ago Brian Robinson evaluated the crawl space at my summer home on Islesboro where I knew moisture was becoming a problem. I had done quite a bit of work in the space many years prior with mixed results. When Brian offered some suggestions, they were ideas that incorporated work previously done, and would be a relatively low cost effort to improve the situation. He offered this advice over several phone conversations of some length, informally, and at no charge.

Cliff R.

Islesboro

I am very pleased with my experience with Evergreen Home Performance. I met several times with Richard Burbank and he was very detailed in his explanations to all of my questions. He provided me with several options for improving the insulation to our home. The team of installers were very professional and respectful of our home. They did a great job of cleaning up every day after the days work and they were also very responsive to all my questions as well as we collaborated to get our home better insulated. It was a pleasure to work with Richard and…

Brian C.

Falmouth

I was extremely pleased with the professionalism and quality of service that I received from the Evergreen team. I met Richard to discuss options for insulation. I knew immediately that I wanted to do business with them because he did not try to over-sell extra services that I did not need. Dave was the project manager. He was not only kind, but very respectful of my home. I would highly recommend this company.

Darlyann M

Bath

Bryan, Dave and the entire Evergreen team are wonderfully professional, prompt and thorough. I enjoyed working with them and look forward to continued work as we upgrade our home! Thank you so much for your professionalism, fairness, time and diligence.

Cait

Yarmouth

We had Evergreen energy do blow-in cellulose. I was very happy with the result. They tested with blower-door before and after. House is now MUCH warmer. Also, in the time since when I've had to open walls for various access, I've been impressed with how they got the insulation packed in everywhere. I'd use them again.

Noah

Peaks Island

Great team!

George S.

Bath

My husband and I bought a home on the water in Owls Head and decided to make the investment in Evergreen's recommendations for insulation. Brian Robinson spent 3 hours examining every nook and cranny before he made practical suggestions and explained them thoroughly to us.

Marie McNeely

Owls Head

Really great experience from start to finish with Evergreen. They helped us prioritize what needed to be completed first, and has made a significant difference in our hearing costs already. Plus they were really friendly and considerate to work with!

Amy W.

Kennebunk

Evergreen did a fantastic job insulating our 1930's home. The onsite team was professional, clean, and really just a joy to interact with throughout the process. A blower test at the end showed a significant decrease in air leakage. I highly recommend Evergreen.

Kristen H.

South Portland

I cant say enough about this company and the benefits that it created for our family. They are very professional and have effectively re-insulated our home. The heating bill proves the point.

Bob O.

Springvale

Evergreen removed and replaced the insulation in my attic. They did a great job!, Crew was excellent, and the whole thing went smoothly, and the attic was NOT easy to get into or work in, so kudos to some hard work done well!

Joel A.

Portland

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Portland Buy Local
Efficiency Maine
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190 Riverside St, #2A,
Portland, ME 04103

315 Main Street, #205,
Rockland, ME 04841

207-358-3706

info@evergreenyourhome.com