What Can I Do About Ice Dams On My Roof

Hacking away at ice dams with a hammer chisel or shovel is bad for your roofing and dangerous for you.

What can i do about ice dams on my roof.

Using a long handled roof rake to removing the snow from at least at lower 4 feet of roof edge can help prevent ice dams from forming. When using roof rake use light pressure to avoid scraping the shingles too hard. Stop ice dams with a cold roof ice dams and icicles form when the snow melts runs down your roof and refreezes near the edge. You do that by increasing ventilation adding insulation and sealing off every possible air leak that might warm the underside of the roof.

An ice dam is a ridge of ice that forms at the edge of a roof and prevents melting snow water from draining off the roof. Breaking an ice dam can result in large swaths of ice crashing off the roof breaking windows damaging bushes and injuring anyone below so extreme caution must be taken. The person breaking the. The water that backs up behind the dam can leak into a home and cause damage to walls ceilings insulation and other areas.

Getting rid of ice dams for good is simple in principle. Ice dams forming on your roof can damage your home leading to costly repairs. This is the only safe way to remove snow from a roof. So the first step is to remove this ice and snow using a snow rake which is a retractable rake that can extend up to about 17 feet or so in length.

When ice clogs your gutters there is nowhere for the melted snow to run off the roof. This only occurs when part of your roof warms to above 32 degrees f warm enough to melt the snow while the roof edge remains below freezing. And throwing salt on them will do more to harm to your plantings than to the ice. An ice dam is a hump of ice that forms at the edge of a roof under certain wintertime conditions.

Meltwater from the warm roof backs up behind it flows under the shingles and into the house. This scenario is often the result of a warm attic. Because of this it pools up and leaks back into your house causing damage to the roof and attic. Ice accumulates along the eaves forming a dam.

Just keep the entire roof the same temperature as the eaves. An ice dam can damage both your roof and the inside of your home. It will put gutters and downspouts. Several quick fixes but only one cure.