February
12, 2015
The pileup
of snowstorms has caused insurance claims to spike and insurers to bring on
additional adjusters to assess the cost of the damage as Boston-area residents
deal with everything from leaky roofs to collisions on narrow roads.
These
weather-related losses are likely to get worse in coming weeks:
Forecasters
call for more snow, and insurers expect more problems, now hidden by snow, to
surface when spring arrives. In particular, the snow accumulated on rooftops is
leading to the creation of ice dams, which prevent drainage and cause leaks
inside houses.
On Tuesday,
Deland, Gibson Insurance Associates in Wellesley Hills received 30 claims,
triple the usual number and mostly tied to ice dams , said Tom Skelly, a vice
president. In most cases, the company is keeping the claims open because it
expects more damage to come.
“We are
telling the clients it’s not the end,” Skelly said. “The water you see is just
the beginning.”
Insurance
companies say their phones are jammed with customer calls about ice dams. About
25 percent of the new claims that Quincy-based Arbella Insurance is receiving
are tied to ice dams, said Joe Salerno, vice president of claims. He expects it
to grow as high 40 percent of claims.
Plymouth
Rock Assurance, primarily an auto insurer with a smaller homeowners business,
has seen damage claims for homes jump to nine times the normal volume this
week, said Chris Olie, its chief executive.
“Right now,
my staff is drinking from the fire hose,” Olie said.
Plymouth
Rock is contracting with independent adjusters to supplement the staffers
visiting homeowners and accessing the amount of damage to their homes.
Liberty
Mutual brought adjusters from out-of-state offices to handle the deluge of claims
around the region, in hopes of speeding up the process, said Glenn Greenberg, a
spokesman for the Boston-based insurer.
“We have
several more adjusters positioned to come to the region should our claims
volume increase,” he said.
Damage from
ice dams can range from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars,
depending on severity and the value of the home. And while homeowner policies
tend to cover damage to the home itself, they usually don’t pay for losses to
personal property, such as computers, televisions, and stoves that may be near
the leak.
Insurance
experts stressed that homeowners should deal with ice dams as soon as possible,
using an snow rake to clear roofs and then a mallet to break up some of the ice
packs. To keep ice from building up, homeowners should salt the roof edges,
said Skelly, of Deland Gibson.
In some
cases, ice dams may be significant and need the expertise of roofers. But many
of those companies are overwhelmed by work this week.
Newton
Roofing Residential received 174 voice mails in a span of less than four hours
on Tuesday, said Richard Melo, the company’s general manager.
“It’s an
absolute disaster,” he said. “We’re piecing together crews and using some
subcontractors.”
Insurers
said few auto claims related to slick roads and winter weather have been filed,
largely because of the state travel ban that was issued during the January
blizzard and decisions by companies to close their offices and allow workers to
telecommute, said Salerno, with Arbella Insurance.
But snowbanks
are starting to resemble walls, which can prevent drivers from seeing oncoming
traffic as they inch out of driveways or side streets, Salerno said.
“We are
anticipating seeing more peek-out claims,” he said.
Insurance
officials advise consumers to read through their policies and to take
photographs of any damage, with time stamps, while they wait for the adjusters
to arrive. If they make emergency repairs, consumers should save all receipts.
//__________________________________//
WHAT CAUSES ICE DAMS?
Ice dams
are ridges of ice that form at the edge of a roof and prevent melting snow from
draining. Ice dam problems usually occur after heavy snowfall and several days
of freezing temperatures. The past few weeks in Massachusetts have been a
perfect storm for ice dams.
Ice dams
form as a result of warm air inside your home leaking into the attic and
warming the underside of the roof, causing snow and ice to melt. The melted
water will drain along the roof, under the snow, until it reaches the cold
overhang. The overhang tends to be at the same temperature (below 32 degrees)
as the outdoors, and the melted water will refreeze and form icicles and
possibly an ice dam.
The
draining water hits the ice dam, backs up under the roof shingles, finds cracks
and openings in the roofing, and eventually manifests itself as an interior
water leak.
Do those
giant icicles on my house mean I have an ice dam?
Should
people be worried about icicles? They are a part of winter, and pretty, but
when the icicles hanging from a house are large (2 to 3-inches or more in
diameter), that is a sure sign that ice dams are forming. By the way, large
icicles are a byproduct of ice damming, and banging them off your house does
little other than risking window breakage and personal injury. Leave them alone
unless they are threatening people and property below.
What should
I do if I have an ice dam?
Using a
roof rake to clear the snow from the first three to four feet along the roof
edge is a great way to prevent ice dams. This should be done immediately after
it snows. Roof raking eliminates one of the ingredients necessary in an ice dam
recipe and is BEST done before the ice dam forms.
Roof raking
allows the sun to warm the roof edge and melting snow to drain.
What should
I do if I have an ice dam leak?
I prefer
prevention, but in an emergency situation where water is flowing into your
house, you need to remove the ice dams. Steam is by far the safest method and
poses the least risk of further damage. Several roofing companies use a steamer
method, and, if ice dams are a common problem for you, you’ll want to make sure
you’re on their “dance card” early in the season. They book fast.
A steamer
uses a home’s water supply, heating it to 300 degrees. The steam is forced
through a hose and wand, where it is delivered in a low-pressure stream used to
cut through ice. The most efficient way to steam ice off a roof is to cut it
into chunks and throw the chunks from the roof.
A true
emergency sometimes means you can’t wait for a contractor to use a steamer. In
this case, I’ve cut channels through the ice dam to allow the water behind it
to drain off the roof. In these situations, I’ve used a hammer claw, or a large
chisel, to carve the channels.
Your goal
is to allow the roof to drain, and you need to be super careful not to damage
the roofing material underneath. Stop chipping when you get close to the roof’s
surface. I suggest cutting channels every two to three feet.
Hammers and
other impact instruments are commonplace in ice dam removal BUT can result in
costly damage. Using a power washer can also do significant damage, so I advise
against that.
TIP You can
use snow melt or rock salt to keep these channels open. I’ve even filled the
legs of nylons with rock salt and placed them in the channels. I’ve seen guys
tie long strings to the nylons, so they can retrieve them later without having
to climb a ladder. I have to warn you that these chemicals can damage aluminum,
copper gutters, flashing, and plants.
Prevention
Unless you
enjoy and are good about roof raking, you should look closer at your building
to help prevent future issues. Here are a few suggestions for prevention of ice
dams:
1. Install
a rubberized roofing underlayment under your shingles six feet up along the
edges, all valleys, and covering all low-pitch areas. This is best done when
re-roofing.
2. Increase
the attic insulation to cut down on heat loss by conduction. State code
requires an R-value of 38 above the ceiling for new homes. In narrow spaces, use
insulation products with a high R-value. If your house is older, you can add
furring strips to the rafters to create a deeper space for more insulation.
3. Ensure
you have adequate gable or soffit-to-ridge ventilation.
4. Reduce
heat sources in your attic by sealing the air leaks into it. Sealing air leaks
is a topic for another article. Many people think that insulation alone does
the job effectively. The truth is that in order to improve the
energy-efficiency of your insulation, you need to seal air leaks to prevent
heat loss. Insulation works best when air is not moving through or around it.
Sealing air leaks is not hard; you just need to know where to look.
5. Avoid
complicated roof designs in snowy climates. Complicated roof lines are sexy but
create intrinsic problems with ventilation and drainage.
6. A
deicing system efficiently reduces ice dam formation along roof edges and in
gutters, providing a path for snow melt to flow off the roof edge or through
the downspout. I suggest this to my clients as a last resort and for
complicated roof designs and hard-to-rake areas. Roof and gutter deicing
cables, or “heating cables,” provide an effective and economical method for
draining the roof of snow melt. I also advise my clients against using cheap
hardware-store versions. These cables are not “smart systems” and turn on when
temperatures reach a certain point, snow or not. To combat this, many people
install a light switch to control the cables, and then forget to turn it on or
off. Additionally, these cables have a short lifespan and often burn out.
Instead, I use a commercial-grade self-regulating heating cable that has
sensors to detect snow and ice dam conditions. The system is “smart”; it turns
on when it snows and off a few hours after it stops.