When the snow thaws, it means business for Roy Diering.
"With the warming trend that we've gotten now, we're out doing some steaming, thawing of frozen drains and stuff like that," said Diering.
He has owned and operated Action Sewer and Drain Services Inc. for 25 years. He says extreme shifts from cold to warm can reveal problems in pipes.
"Whenever ice warms up, it expands and that's when things will break, can cause flooding, broken water lines in a building or something like that — something that nobody knew was there,” said Diering. “But all of a sudden, as soon as that weather warms up, it's amazing what it can do."
As for real estate investor Jason Hall, the warm up also means more work.
"Ice dams, in my line of work, are just something you wish it didn't snow," said Hall.
Aside from foundations and doors shifting, Hall, who owns 150 properties in Regina, says roofs are the main concern when the weather warms up.
Ice dams, he says, can cost anywhere from a few thousand to a hundred thousand dollars to repair.
"If we leave the snow on the roof and it's plus five in a few days and it freezes and it's not all gone and it won't be, it's going to free and the ice that's attached to the roof will seep back into the roof and into our ceilings," said Hall.
As for the city, the warm up hasn't brought any trouble yet, but crews are keeping a close eye on city pipes.
"We certainly can see more breaks when there's extreme shifts in weather, just because our soils are clay and they will shift and move,” said Pat Wilson, director of water works at the City of Regina.
“But at this time now, with relatively shallow frost, we aren't observing any problems.”
