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Although snow may have little room to thrive in Australia’s warm climate, certain regions including the Blue Mountains in NSW and the central highlands of Tasmania sometimes experience winter snow.
If you live in a region that is known to experience bouts of snow, then you need to know how snow and ice can affect your roof - there are important things to consider when building a new home, extending your home or re-roofing your home.
Ice dams
In colder conditions, ice dams can become a regular issue. Ice dams are caused when warm air produced from living spaces rises and melts the snow on your roof, the water then runs off the roof and refreezes on the edge which is likely to form into ice build-ups which are sharp and hazardous and can break off.
Additionally, they create structural issues. Ice build-ups can damage gutters because of their excessive weight and cause water to seep through your roof and walls. If left unchecked, this could lead to a collapsing roof. However, homes built in snowy regions usually have roofs with gutter guards designed to deal with ice dams.
How can your roof combat snow, ice build-ups and water?
Gutter guards
Plenty of gutter design options exist to prevent ice dams. There are gutter guards that prevent debris clogging up your gutters and heating elements which keep your gutters warm causing snow to instantly melt and run off them.
Roof pitch
Architects building for snowy regions also tend to incorporate the risk of snow build-up into their designs. As a result, many homes in snowy regions have steep angled roofs to ensure that excessive snow has little room to cause a strain on the actual frame or building structure of a home.
Roof tiles
When building in snowy regions, the design of your roof is paramount to its durability and should be a key consideration. One of the more popular options is a roof made from roof tiles.
Roof tiles must adhere to strict compliance standards – every batch must be tried and tested. Roof tiles are also energy efficient due to their thermal density, which provides an effective means of insulation, regulating internal temperatures, to keep your home warmer in winter and reducing the chances of water collecting on your roof from snow, otherwise known as condensation.
Sarking
Roof tiles also come with the option of sarking. Sarking provides further insulation. Sarking is using additional materials placed under roof tiles that act like as a second protective skin for insulation purposes. Sarking also shields your roof cavity from rainfall and leaks to prevent it from damage.
Maintenance tips
Interested in learning more about how to protect your roof? Read our latest blogs here.