Ice Dams Ugh!

Ice dams are those gigantic sheets of ice that look like the glaciers from Antarctica that are slowly falling from your roof. These can be super dangerous not only from falling ice but also from the water that builds up and has nowhere to go so it seeps into your house through your roof. With a little maintenance these can be taken care of pretty easily as well as prevented from happening all together. 

How do Ice Dams form?

It forms when the heat from your attic slowly melts the snow and as your gutters freeze from the cold temperatures outside the run off water re-freezes forming what looks like a frozen water fall over your gutter.

What will happen if you don’t get rid of these Ice Dams?

If you don’t get rid of these damns the melting water will have now where to go and will back up under your roof shingles leaking into your attic. This water can also seep down the inside walls of your house creating even more damage.

How do you get rid Ice Dams?

Once they form you can hire someone to go and remove the excess snow from your roof to prevent them from getting any bigger. Also you can carefully chip away creating channel for the running water to escape. Make sure the bottoms of your gutters are also cleared away. 

They sell a few products that you can buy to help with this. One being what looks like a hockey puck its actually a Calcium Chloride puck that you can place on your roof along the gutter and it will melt away the ice much like the salt granules that you use in your driveway or sidewalks.

They also sell heated cables (looks like an extension cord) that you lay along the gutter and when you plug it in it will heat up and slowly melt the ice along the gutter leaving a way for the water to drain.

*Quick tip: If you do notice leaking into your house get a box fan and turn it on and aim it towards the roof where the water is coming in, this will cool down the roof enough to stop the snow from melting for a short period of time.

How can you prevent Ice Dams from happening?

• The first thing is don’t let snow accumulate on your roof, buy a roof rake and when it snows make sure you remove it from the roof.
• Make sure there is always a way for the water to escape from the gutters
• The most common cause of ice damns is heat escaping through your roof so make sure that it is properly insulated and everything is weather tight.

Hope this helps.

If you need help with ice damns on your house contact me. “I know a guy” lol.