Asphalt Shingle Roofing in Indianapolis, IN

Ice at the Eaves, Hail in the Spring

Ice dams do the damage homeowners underestimate. Heat escaping a poorly insulated attic melts snow at the ridge; that water runs down and refreezes at the cold eave, and the resulting ridge of ice forces meltwater backward under the shingle courses. Story-and-a-half homes on the near-north side are the classic victims, since knee-wall construction leaves almost no room for insulation where the roof meets the wall.

Spring brings the other half of the problem. Hail cores tracking across Boone, Hendricks, and Johnson counties bruise shingle mats in April through June, and the fracture often stays invisible from the ground until granules wash into the gutters a season later. Our lifespan breakdown on how long asphalt shingles last in Indianapolis walks through what that wear actually looks like year by year.

Indiana Residential Code requires an ice barrier running from the eave edge to at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, and that single detail separates roofs that survive February from roofs that leak into a bedroom ceiling. We install it in valleys and around every penetration, then run synthetic underlayment across the field, starter strip at rakes and eaves, and ridge ventilation sized to the actual attic volume rather than whatever came off the last truck.

Ventilation is where most shortcuts happen. A ridge vent with no soffit intake moves nothing, and the trapped moisture rots decking from underneath while the shingles above still look new. We check intake, exhaust, and insulation depth during every roof inspection, and we document what we find on video so nothing is taken on faith.