Ten Lakes Roofing

Roofing across the Twin Cities suburbs

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A roof almost never quits in the middle. It quits at the transitions. Six places a roof gives way. The one everyone checks is No. 2, the shingle field. The other five do most of the failing.
Garage Point 1: ridge caps 1 Ridge caps: fatigued by the annual swing Point 2: the field of the roof 2 The field: snow load and age Point 3: valleys 3 in the valleys Point 4: flashing 4 a lower roof meets a wall Point 5: vent boot 5 Vent boot Point 6: eaves and ice dams 6 Eaves: ice builds where attic heat escapes
  1. 1 Ridge caps. Fatigued by an annual swing few other climates ask of a roof.
  2. 2 The field. Snow load and age together, not one or the other.
  3. 3 Valleys. Meltwater runs under the snowpack here, out of sight.
  4. 4 Flashing. The chimney, and where a lower roof meets a wall.
  5. 5 The vent boot. Cold makes the rubber brittle, then a thaw opens the crack.
  6. 6 Eaves and ice dams. Ice builds at the edge wherever attic heat is escaping.

It happens at the edge

Heat escaping the attic melts snow on the slope, the water runs down to the cold overhang and stops, and the ice that forms there backs up under the covering. Nearly everything reported here is some version of that.

The work

Ten suburbs, one winter

Ten cities around the Twin Cities, from the postwar ramblers of the north metro to the newest plats out east, all of them working through the same six-month season and the same February.