I am not proud of them but these are the icicles hanging off the roof near my home office. Ice dams are not a good thing. They are caused when one part of the room is warmer than another which means heat is leaking out through the roof. They can cause damage and sometimes water backs up and gets under the shingles and leaks into the house. No leaks in my roof but still not good and winter isn't over yet. Usually the problem can be solved by adding some more insulation.
When I look at a house I look at the roof right when I pull up to it. This time of year we can't see the shingles because of the snow but we can still get some information by looking at the roof. If it doesn't have any snow on it that isn't a good sign. The roof may be just find but chances are the home doesn't have enough insulation. If the roof is covered with snow and there aren't any ice dams or maybe a little ice here and there then chances are the home is insulated. Sometimes I see roofs covered with snow but there is one bare spot and again that is an area where there isn't enough insulation and heat is leaking out.
If the roof is covered with snow we can look at the sellers disclosure to find out how old it is and look for reports of leaks. I like to open closet doors in houses and look at the ceiling because that seems to be a good place to find water stains. An old stain on a ceiling doesn't mean that the roof needs replacing and buyers should always have the home inspected by a professional before they buy it.
Great tip. Here in south it doesn’t snow as much so we don’t even think about roof leakage the same way you do. This is one of those rare days that it has snowed couple of inches over last 24 hours and they are expecting more in next 2-3 days. While driving around I will unconsciously be noticing accumulation fo snow on the roof of homes.
Good tip to keep in mind to see how well home is insulated…. For now… let it snow…
Fascinating information! Thanks for a very interesting post. I too live in the south, just like the previous commenter. We just had our first real snow in over a decade. You can see the excitement of the locals in my last blog post. Looking at all the snow covered roofs that day, I found it very beautiful, but never thought of issues like you describe in this article. I wonder if I’ll remember to check the next time we see snow in the south (maybe in 2020?).