Springtime brings a unique set of concerns for homeowners in the Wasatch Back during the transition from winter’s heavy snow to warmer days.
One of the most common issues in the area is ice dams, said James Naylor, manager for the Park City branch of Utah Disaster Kleenup. These little-known snow formations are ways that water can get into a home through the roof as snow melts during the day and refreezes at night.
“When you have hot and cold pushed up against each other, for example, eight to 10 feet of snow stacked on your roof, and then you have the warmth of your home getting to that snow, it melts it from the bottom,” Naylor said. “It causes water to move upwards on your roof.”
This upward-moving water can seep under shingles and into the home, causing damage to ceilings and walls. Many Park City homes feature intricate roof designs with sharp angles and shaded areas, which make them more prone to ice dams, Naylor said.
“If you have a spot in your roof that is shaded and doesn’t melt efficiently, and you may not have heat cable to melt it, that’s what causes ice dams. It’s just water freezing and thawing and then going upward, up the construction of your roof,” he said.
Naylor said his team saw more ice dams a couple winters ago during record snow numbers that made it difficult for homeowners to keep snow off their roofs. This season hasn’t been as bad, but it’s important to check roofs during the spring to assess what damage might have occurred during the winter.
As the snow melts, Naylor said homeowners should also be concerned about runoff and potential flooding, which can especially impact basements and crawl spaces as the ground around a home becomes saturated with water.
“Snow melt, runoff, is a bigger issue than people realize. If you live on the side of a mountain, and we all experienced this two years ago when we had that huge snowstorm, when all that snow starts to melt, it creates almost an unstoppable river,” Naylor said. “Basically all the earth around your home is totally waterlogged, and what that’ll do is it’ll just creep into the basement or your crawl space.”
Many homeowners don’t realize that crawl spaces are particularly vulnerable, Naylor said, and springtime is one of the best times to check on a crawl space, to look for flooding, mold or animal activity.
“If you pop your head down into the crawl space, you want to look for standing water. Standing water is not good. And then you want to check, does it feel very humid? Does it have a weird odor? Are you seeing spots of black on the framing?” Naylor said. “The humid air will create conditions for mold to grow on the framing of the floor of your house. So even if the water isn’t touching the wood, just having a super humid airspace will create that problem.”
Naylor said the airflow and environment of crawl spaces are often overlooked by homebuilders, so it’s often up to homeowners to mitigate risks by installing dehumidifiers or improving ventilation.
Animal activity also impacts crawl spaces, which can provide cozy, warm shelter for nesting critters like mice and skunks. Naylor said the worst case scenario they see is destroyed insulation or lingering odors, which Utah Disaster Kleenup can restore if necessary. Best case, of course, is to ensure crawl spaces are fully sealed.
Another critical area to inspect in the spring is landscaping. The movement of snowmelt can shift soil and cause erosion, affecting home foundations and drainage systems.
“You want to know that you have good grading and that the water moves away from your house, diverted in the proper direction. Mountain homes, you’re on the side of the mountain, you’re going to have a lot more water runoff. So a lot of people have French drains, channels, to divert the water to where it can be away from the house,” Naylor said.
A well-maintained French drain, a trench filled with gravel and a perforated pipe, helps manage excess runoff and prevents water from pooling near foundations. Naylor said a cracked foundation is one of the most expensive issues to fix, so prevention is key.
Another overlooked issue in the spring is damage to outdoor water lines. If a hose bibb was left connected during the winter, the frozen water inside the pipe could have caused a break.
“It’ll start leaking as soon as you turn it on, and you won’t know, because you’re going to be outside watering the flowers or spraying off the sidewalk,” Naylor said. “That 20 minutes you take to do that, your house is flooding, and you don’t realize it.”
When you first turn your hose on, Naylor recommends taking a minute to go to the basement and listen for water dripping. The best way to prevent this is to disconnect hoses before winter temperatures arrive.
Understanding insurance coverage is another important aspect of springtime preparedness, he said, as many policies may not cover damage caused by outside water or mold.
“A lot of insurance companies don’t cover mold, because it’s something that happens slowly. And they say it’s preventable if you’re doing proper house maintenance, which is kind of BS, because a lot of the time it’s not discoverable,” Naylor said.
Homeowners should discuss their policies with their agents and ask if additional coverage is available.
While homeowners cannot prevent every possible issue, being proactive can help mitigate damage, so Naylor emphasized the importance of staying vigilant.
“There’s a million things that can go wrong, and if you just do a quick check of all these things, you can stay on top of it so it doesn’t degrade and get worse,” Naylor said.
Learn more about Utah Disaster Kleenup and their seasonal tips for homeowners in Utah at calludk.com.