Tips of the Trade: Building A Home in Chelan’s Harsh Winter Climate
When it comes to building homes in cold weather climates like Chelan, we recognize the unique challenges that come with extreme winter conditions. There are many elements to take into account when building a quality home through the harsh winter weather, from ice dams to freezing pipes.
With decades of building experience, we take specific and thoughtful consideration around the important details of building homes designed to sustain cold climates.
The Risk: Ice Dams
Ice dams are a common issue that can occur in cold weather climates like Chelan. This unique problem happens when snow on the roof or decks melts and then refreezes, leading to ice buildup. If left unchecked, ice dams can cause damage to the roof and water leakage into the home. Our team takes additional measures during construction to think through the behavior of snow, ice, and water during the freeze-and-thaw cycles in order to prevent ice dams from building up around gutters, downspouts, or at membrane areas.
The Solution: Snow Loading and Snow Control
Snow loading is a major consideration when building in cold weather climates. Heavy snow can cause significant structural damage to a home, especially on flat roofs. We engineer homes to support unusual snow loading conditions that occur in Chelan. Last year, we had 3 feet of snow in Chelan, which was followed by heavy rain causing the snow to freeze. Snow in this condition can weigh 100lbs or more per square foot! This significant live load requires additional consideration to ensure the roof doesn’t fail or create interior damage from the deflection of the structural members from the weight. We may also use snow holders on the roofs where applicable and carefully consider where snow should fall off the roof to ensure it lands in safe areas.
The Risk: Freezing Pipes
Another big concern through the winter months is the danger of frozen pipes. When the temperature drops to or below 32°F, water inside the pipes of a home can freeze and expand, causing the pipes to burst. This can result in water damage, flooding, and mold growth, leading to costly and extensive repairs. If this occurs during the construction process, it will delay the completion of the project significantly.
The Solutions:
Freeze Protection for Water Pipes
Water pipes are susceptible to freezing in cold weather conditions, which can lead to bursting and significant water damage. To prevent this, our team carefully routes water supply piping to avoid exterior walls, and we install pipe heaters where pipes may be at risk of being exposed to cold temperatures. We also highly recommend leaving home thermostats turned to at least 60 degrees during the winter to avoid frozen pipes.
Freeze Protection in Mechanical Rooms
Mechanical rooms are another area requiring additional freeze protection in cold weather climates. Blu Water Homes provides in-wall thermostatically controlled heaters in these rooms to keep them above freezing temperatures and prevent equipment from freezing and becoming damaged.
Proper Insulation
Proper insulation is crucial in cold weather climates to keep homes warm and energy efficient, and it can also help reduce the risk of freezing pipes. Blu Water Homes takes this into consideration and ensures that homes are properly insulated to meet all local building codes and standards.
The Risk: Roof Mold and Dry-Rot
There are many different ways to detail the thermal break in a home. We’re seeing more homes designed with flat roofs and/or vaulted ceilings with no attic space or unvented attic space. In these situations, the thermal break occurs at the roof, and the correct selection and installation of the insulation is crucial to ensuring your home will not have future structural issues.
When the outside temperature is cold and the air in your home is warm, condensation can form where these two conditions meet. Think of your favorite cold beverage, enjoyed during one of Chelan’s beautiful summer days. Condensation forms on the outside of the glass, where cold meets warm. On your home, this condensation can lead to dry-rot and mold on the structural members of your roof.
Generally, we see this issue when a builder uses batt insulation in place of more expensive rigid and/or spray foam insulation – either because they don’t understand how to do it right, or because they’re trying to meet a lower construction cost. In these situations, it’s only a matter of time until the structural defects surface. The cost to fix this situation is multiple times higher than doing it right in the first place.
The Solution: Proper Insulation Installation
Correct installation of closed-cell spray foam insulation under the roof sheathing, or rigid insulation above the sheathing but below the roof membrane, creates a thermal bridge to spread the temperature variance through the structural members. The nature of this assembly ensures that condensation does not form.
Here are two ways to correctly assemble insulation to avoid condensation:
Chelan, WA is a beautiful place to live or vacation, and the region is home to the unique blend of hot summers and cold, snowy winters. Building a home in this unique climate requires careful consideration of many factors to protect your new home from the weather during construction and years after it’s complete.
Our team at Blu Water Homes is committed to ensuring that each home we build is of the highest quality and can withstand the extreme winter conditions of the area. We build homes that are designed to last multiple lifetimes. Contact us today to learn more and start building your happy place.
