ICE DAMS

4/14/2021 (Permalink)

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When warm air melts snow unevenly on a roof and refreezes at the edge of the roof where it is still below zero, an ice dam forms. This dam prevents any further snowmelt from draining off the roof. Your gutters and roof can be seriously damaged by snow and ice. Snow and ice add to the weight, can cause a roof to collapse. Ice dams themselves are not necessarily a problem. It is the leaks that do the bulk of the damage. If you cannot detect signs of ice dam leakage, either in the soffits on the outside or in the attic or ceilings, you may not have to do anything. 1. Remove the ice dam by breaking it free in small chucks. Do NOT use an ax or other sharp tool! You’ll cut through the shingles. Instead, tap lightly with a blunt mallet. This is slow, dangerous work, so hire someone experienced at roofing. Even if you do it safely, the chunks of ice can take pieces of shingle with them. Then clear out gutters and downspouts. Again, this is ladder work and an easy way to damage either plastic or metal gutters and spouts. Melt troughs through the ice dam with calcium chloride ice Melter. Do NOT use rock salt! It will damage paint, metals, and plants beneath the eave and wherever the salty water drains. A good trough-maker is a tube of cloth (a leg from an old pair of panty hose works well). Fill it with calcium chloride, tie off the top, and lay it vertically across the ice dam. It will slowly melt its way down through the dam, clearing a path for the underlying water to flow free.