Is Frost On My Roof Something to Worry About?

Let’s imagine this scenario: You wake up to a chilly morning and go outside to scrape your car for your commute. You look around your neighborhood and notice something strange. Everyone seems to have frost on their roof except for your home. What does this mean? Is a lack of frost a good sign or bad sign? Roofcorp explores what frost on a roof, or lack thereof, means for your home and roofing system.

What Does a Lack of Frost On My Roof Mean?

If all of your neighbor’s roofs have a healthy sheen of frost on top of them but yours does not it may not be the best sign. Before getting concerned you need to make sure the lack of frost is due to the roof itself and not from outside forces. If the morning sun directly hits your home and not your neighbors lack of frost may just be attributed to the sun’s heat. However if nothing is different about your home compared to your neighbors you may have a problem.

A lack of frost can indicate that heat is leaking out through your attic space onto the roof and melting the frost. Look at the entirety of your roof, is the frost melting unevenly and not due to the sun’s heat? Does your garage have a frosted roof and the rest of your home does not or vice versa?

These could indicate that your home is losing heat due to a lack of proper insulation. Go take an inspection of your attic space and take a look at the insulation. Are there areas where there is more insulation than others? Is there insulation missing in certain areas? These could be indicators of a substandard roofing or HVAC job. This loss of heat will make your heating system work harder to maintain comfortable temperatures and cost you more in energy bills.

Contrary to what you might think your ventilation and exhaust ports are usually not the reason for escaped heat and a lack of frost on your roof. Proper ventilation is necessary for reducing moisture even in Winter, so never cover any of these exhaust ports or vents!

What Should I Do About Frost On My Roof?

Your best solution is to call your local reputable roofing contractor to take a look at your insulation and roofing system. They can help you identify areas where heat is escaping and if its truly due to poor insulation. From there they can fix the problem themselves or offer services of a secondary company.