The Chicagoland Win­ter Storm Dilem­ma: How Snow Impacts Your Home

Jan 10, 2024 • By Matthew Stock.

As win­ter sweeps in, North­ern Illi­nois and Chicagoland are poised to expe­ri­ence a weath­er roller­coast­er. Yes­ter­day we expe­ri­enced snow drop­ping at a stag­ger­ing 3 to 8 inch­es accom­pa­nied by a mix of rain. The weath­er front also shows a white­out bliz­zard sce­nario come Fri­day and plum­met­ing tem­per­a­tures over the week­end that will cause the ground to freeze. Did you know these weath­er con­di­tions can impact your home and the foun­da­tion? Snow can pose sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges to home­own­ers, espe­cial­ly when it begins to melt, and freez­ing ground can affect the struc­tur­al integri­ty of a home. Many peo­ple over­look win­ter not know­ing the real impacts it can have on your home. 

The Melt­ing Snow Predicament

Did you know that approx­i­mate­ly 10 inch­es of snow equate to 1 inch of rain? It’s a sta­tis­tic that often sur­pris­es many, but this ratio plays a cru­cial role in under­stand­ing the poten­tial impact of snowmelt on your home. As tem­per­a­tures rise and snow starts to thaw, the accu­mu­lat­ed snow­pack can lead to a con­sid­er­able amount of water around your property.

One of the main con­cerns aris­ing from this melt­ing snow is base­ment seep­age. The water present in snow might not imme­di­ate­ly infil­trate your base­ment, but as it tran­si­tions to liq­uid, it finds its way down­ward. This infil­tra­tion can result in damp­ness, seep­age, or even flood­ing in your base­ment if not addressed proactively.

Snow: A Cul­prit for Gut­ter Woes

Snow does­n’t just affect your home from the ground up; it also cre­ates issues at the roofline. Accu­mu­lat­ed snow can clog gut­ters, hin­der­ing their func­tion­al­i­ty when it comes to chan­nel­ing water away from your home. When snow blocks the gut­ters, the flow of melt­ing snow and sub­se­quent water drainage gets obstruct­ed, lead­ing to poten­tial water dam­age along the roofline and the walls.

Ice dams form when accu­mu­lat­ed snow on the roof melts slight­ly and then refreezes at the eaves, cre­at­ing a bar­ri­er that pre­vents prop­er drainage. These ice dams can cause water to pool on the roof, lead­ing to leaks and poten­tial dam­age to shin­gles and under­ly­ing roof­ing mate­ri­als. More­over, the weight of these ice dams can also dam­age gut­ters, exac­er­bat­ing the poten­tial for water-relat­ed issues.

Under­stand­ing the Freeze-Thaw Cycle

Freeze-thaw cycles, a nat­ur­al occur­rence in cold­er cli­mates, present a sig­nif­i­cant risk to the struc­tur­al integri­ty of a home­’s foun­da­tion. When water seeps into the soil around a foun­da­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing win­ter, it sets the stage for poten­tial damage.

Here’s how it works: as tem­per­a­tures drop, the water trapped in the soil around the foun­da­tion freezes. When water freezes, it expands, exert­ing pres­sure on the sur­round­ing soil and the foun­da­tion itself. This pres­sure can lead to cracks in the foun­da­tion or exac­er­bate exist­ing ones.

As the tem­per­a­ture ris­es again, the frozen water thaws, and the soil con­tracts. This cycle of expan­sion and con­trac­tion puts stress on the foun­da­tion, caus­ing it to weak­en over time. Even­tu­al­ly, this repeat­ed stress can com­pro­mise the struc­tur­al sta­bil­i­ty of the entire house.

Home­own­ers in regions prone to freeze-thaw cycles, such as Illi­nois, Chicagoland and its neigh­bor­ing states Indi­ana and Wis­con­sin, should be vig­i­lant. Ensur­ing prop­er drainage away from the foun­da­tion and address­ing any signs of foun­da­tion cracks prompt­ly are essen­tial steps in safe­guard­ing against poten­tial dam­age caused by these nat­ur­al weath­er patterns.

Address­ing the Challenges

For­tu­nate­ly, there are mea­sures to mit­i­gate these risks:

Reg­u­lar Gut­ter Main­te­nance: Keep­ing gut­ters clear of debris before a snow­fall can sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce the chances of blockages.

Fix­ing Base­ment Foun­da­tion Wall Cracks: Fix­ing foun­da­tion cracks will ensure when snow melts no water gets into the basement.

Insu­la­tion and Ven­ti­la­tion: Prop­er­ly insu­lat­ing and ven­ti­lat­ing your attic can pre­vent ice dams by main­tain­ing con­sis­tent tem­per­a­tures on the roof.

Pro­fes­sion­al Inspec­tion: Hav­ing a pro­fes­sion­al inspect your roof, gut­ters, and base­ment for any vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties can pre­emp­tive­ly address poten­tial issues.

Snow Removal: Safe­ly remov­ing excess snow from your roof can help pre­vent ice dams and reduce the weight load on your roof.

As the win­ter storm brews, stay­ing mind­ful of these poten­tial home haz­ards can help you pre­pare and safe­guard your prop­er­ty against the after­math of melt­ing snow. By tak­ing proac­tive mea­sures and stay­ing vig­i­lant, you can min­i­mize the risks asso­ci­at­ed with snow-relat­ed dam­age and ensure your home 

At U.S. Water­proof­ing, we are ded­i­cat­ed to help­ing home­own­ers pro­tect their prop­er­ties from water dam­age. If you require expert assis­tance with base­ment water­proof­ing solu­tions, foun­da­tion repair, gut­ter ser­vices, con­crete rais­ing, or even sump pump instal­la­tion, don’t hes­i­tate to reach out to us. We have helped over 500,000 cus­tomers in the Chicagoland area. Remem­ber, a dry base­ment is a hap­py basement! 

U.S. Water­proof­ing will come and assess the issue. Remem­ber, time­ly action and pro­fes­sion­al assis­tance are cru­cial for deal­ing with base­ment seep­age to pro­tect your home from water-relat­ed prob­lems. To get a free home assess­ment or address base­ment seep­age sched­ule your free con­sul­ta­tion online today!

Previous Article | Learning Center Archive | Next Article