What Is an Ice Dam? What Causes Ice Dams? How Do You Prevent Ice Dams? Find Out Here…

What Is an Ice Dam?

An ice dam is a buildup of ice that forms at the edge of a roof (eaves) and prevents melting snow aka water from draining off the roof and instead causes it to pool and re-freeze into sometimes massive chunks of ice.

The trapped water that backs up behind the dam can leak into your home and cause damage to walls, ceilings, insulation and other areas.

What Causes Ice Dams

Primarily ice dams are caused when the air inside your attic is warmer than the outdoor temperature. This in turn causes the snow on your roof to begin melting and then flowing down towards your gutters where the temperature is equal to the air outside and the water re-freezes.

Once the ice is thick enough water may start to get in between the roof shingles and into your house. It’s important to address the root cause of ice dams prior to the winter season to avoid potential costly water damage to your home.

How to Prevent Ice Dams

✔ Ensure Proper Attic Insulation – Letting heat escape from your attic is not only terrible for your heating bill, but it causes the snow on your roof to melt which will then flow to the gutters and when the temperatures are just right create an ice dam at the edge of your roof.

✔ Clean your Gutters – A significant cause of ice build-up is blockage of water flow through a home’s gutter system. We recommend cleaning your gutters or having a professional clean your gutters at least once a year, but preferably twice a year in late Fall and late Spring to help prevent issues during the Winter.

✔ Remove Snow from your Roof – Raking snow off your roof, at least the outer most section can lessen the roof melt the fills your gutters. Less water from melting snow means less ice in the gutters when the temperature drops.

(NOTE: A highly rated roof snow rake like this can be purchased online for a reasonable cost from Amazon.)

✔ Use Heating Cables – A roof heating cable system is a high resistance wire that your can mount on your roof’s edge in a zig-zag pattern. A GFCI receptacle is require for power and when turned on warms the edge of your roof to help prevent ice dams from happening.

If you have water back-up from an ice dam and can’t rake the snow off the roof, the best way to get rid of the ice dam is to hire a qualified roofing company to steam it off. A steamer is like a pressure washer, except that the water is hot to help with ice dam removal. It melts the ice away without damaging the roofing. Chipping the ice off with a hatchet or an ice pick can break or puncture the shingles.

For reliable, professional gutter cleaning and repair services. Call/Text us at 508-257-1832 or book online at http://www.guttercowboy.com/.