Thinking of home roofing? Consider the best. The roofing products and roofing materials you choose make a difference. Get your roofing estimate from Hartwell Exteriors, providing Boston roofing and Massachusetts roofing for over 45 years.

Hartwell Exteriors uses quality roofing products from EMCO for many roof replacements. Our experts will review you needs, your budget, and your existing roof to recommend the roofing products, roofing materials, and services you need. We will provide you with a free roofing estimate.

Roofing Information: Ice Dams and Ventilation

Roof ventilation and ice damming are concerns in New England weather.  You need to do what you can to ventilate your attic to prevent ice dams from building up and leaking into your home.  Proper ventilation can help, as can appropriate roofing products and roofing materials.

How to Avoid Ice Damming Ice dams are buildup of ice and snow at the eaves and valleys of your roof.  This ice may prevent the melting ice and snow from properly draining from your roof, allowing water to back up under shingles and leak into your home. Over time, ice damming can damage eaves and gutters, rot the insulation of your insulation, and eventually even damage the interior of your ceilings and walls.

Ice dams occur when you have poor attic insulation and poor ventilation.  During the winter, the warm, moist air in the attic can't escape and it causes the snow on the roof to melt.  The runoff refreezes when it reaches the colder part of the roof (usually the outer edge).  The water trapped under the ice then backs up under the shingles and leaks.

A well ventilated attic allows your roof to maintain a more uniform temperature.  Good insulation in your ceilings also helps to prevent the excessive heat loss to the attic that causes the runoff.

Eave protectors add an extra layer of protection under the shingles to protect your roof deck and damage caused by ice dams.

The Importance of Good Ventilation

Good attic ventilation releases the warm air that rises from your living areas into the attic spaces.  If this warm, moist air stays in the attic, it condenses on the underside of the roof deck.  Overtime, this causes rot to the roof deck.  Ideally, attic ventilation should be half soffits and half roof vents. 

Ice dams are also prevented with good roof ventilation.  Allowing the heat to escape is necessary to prevent the snowmelt from refreezing at the eaves and backing up into your attic.

Attic Inspection is Good Periodic Maintenance

• Make sure your soffits are open.
• Look for signs of condensation or dampness in the attic.
• Make sure roof vents are well positioned.
• Remove obstructions like plywood or screens from soffits.

If you have any questions about roofing or ventilation, contact Hartwell Exteriors for more information.

Contact Us

We’re ready to answer your questions! For a free roofing estimate, please complete our Online Estimate Form, or visit our Contact Page. Get your roofing estimate from Hartwell Exteriors, providng Boston roofing and Massachusetts roofing for over 45 years.

Areas of Service

Hartwell Exteriors has served customers in Boston, Newton, Canton, and throughout Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island for over 45 years. We have remodeled homes and have replaced roofs, siding, windows, doors in many towns and neighborhoods including:

Abington, Acton, Amesbury, Andover, Arlington, Ashland, Attleboro, Avon, Ayer, Bedford, Bellingham, Belmont, Beverly, Billerica, Braintree, Bridgewater, Brockton, Brookline, Burlington, Canton, Concord, Danvers, Dedham, Dover, Dracut, Duxbury, East Bridgewater, Everett, Fairhaven, Fall River, Foxboro, Framingham, Franklin, Hanover, Hanson, Haverhill, Hingham, Holbrook, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Hull, Ipswich, Kingston, Lakeville, Lawrence, Lexington, Lincoln, Littleton, Lowell, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Manchester, Mansfield, Marblehead, Marlboro, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, Maynard, Medfield, Medford, Medway, Melrose, Methuen, Middleboro, Milford, Millis, Milton, Natick, Needham, Norfolk, North Andover, North Attleboro, North Billerica, North Easton, North Reading, North Weymouth, Northborough, Norton, Norwell, Norwood, Peabody, Pembroke, Plainville, Plymouth, Quincy, Randolph, Raynham, Reading, Revere, Rockland, Salem, Saugus, Scituate, Sharon, Sherborn, Shrewsbury, Somerset, Somerville, South Easton, Southborough, Stoneham, Stoughton, Stow, Sudbury, Swampscott, Taunton, Tewksbury, Wakefield, Walpole, Waltham, Watertown, Wayland, Wellesley, West Bridgewater, West Roxbury, Westborough, Westford, Weston, Westport, Westwood, Weymouth, Whitman, Wilmington, Winchester, Woburn, Wrentham

In Boston - Allston, Boston, Brighton, Cambridge – Central, Charlestown, Chelmsford, Chelsea, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, South Boston, Winthrop, Brookline, West Roxbury

In Newton - Auburndale, Chestnut Hill, Newton, Newton, Newton Center, Newton Corner, Newton Highlands, Newton Lower Falls, Newton Upper Falls, Newtonville, Nonantum, Waban, West Newton