Roofing in Colorado City

Colorado City sits in the foothills south west of Pueblo, higher and cooler, with real trees and real snow. Almost everything about the roof conversation shifts.

Snow and ice damming

Snow that sits on a roof is not itself the problem. The problem is snow that melts on the warm upper part of a roof, runs down to the cold eave, and refreezes there.

The ridge of ice that builds up holds melt water behind it, and that water finds its way under the shingles because shingles are designed to shed falling water rather than to hold back a pond.

The cause is almost always heat escaping from the house into the attic. The fix is insulation and ventilation, so the deck stays cold and the snow stays frozen. Ice and water protection at the eaves during a reroof is the second line, not the first.

Elevation and ultraviolet

Higher again than Pueblo, which means more ultraviolet and faster ageing of asphalt. Combined with heavier freeze and thaw cycling, the case for a better grade of material rather than the cheapest is stronger here than on the plain.

Trees

Real trees, which means limbs abrading shingles, needles and leaves damming valleys and filling gutters, and shade keeping slopes damp longer than they would be down the hill.

Keeping limbs off the roof and valleys clear is not tidiness, it is roof life.

The material question

In a foothills community with trees, roof material is part of the wildfire conversation. Class A fire rated assemblies exist in asphalt, metal and tile, and it is worth asking what the assembly’s rating is rather than assuming.

Some insurers in Colorado take a close interest in this in foothill areas, so it is also worth a call to your agent before the specification is settled rather than after.

Access

Steeper lots, longer drives, and winter access that is not guaranteed. Scheduling here has a season in a way it does not in Pueblo, and a company that works the foothills regularly will say so plainly.