How To Deal With Ice Dams On Roof

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How to deal with ice dams on roof.

A little bit of preventative maintenance can go a long way in keeping ice dams from ever forming. It s important to deal with ice dams as soon as they appear. Otherwise they can cause a lot of damage to your roof. Ice dams are formed when ice and snow continuously thaws and refreezes on your roof.

Nonuniform roof surface temperatures lead to ice dams. More critically ice dams can cause meltwater to back up under the shingles where it can flow down and ruin ceiling and wall surfaces. Warm air that escapes through a poorly insulated attic can cause ice and snow on the roof to melt away. Buy some calcium chloride and use it to melt the ice.

Severe ice dams can weigh many hundreds of pounds compromising the structure of the roof eaves. The water trickles down between the layer of snow and the shingles until it reaches the eave of the roof which stays cold because it extends beyond the side of the house. The best way to prevent an ice dam is simply to remove the snow from your roof before it has a chance to melt and refreeze. Use a roof rake.

Don t wait until water leaks into your home causing structural damage. If dealing with ice dams is put off melted water backs up behind the ice wall and since it has nowhere to go and the heat of the roof over the home stays warm. Ice dams can be frustrating. If ignored ice dams can cause serious damage to your roof gutters paint insulation and interior drywall and.

For ice dams to form there must be snow on the roof and at the same time higher portions of the roof s outside surface must be above 32 degrees f freezing while lower surfaces are below 32f. An ice dam can get to the point where it is big enough to cause major problems with the roof. Go to your roof and push the ice dam off of your roof. Ice dam roof damage occurs when an ice dam is allowed to grow and is not kept in check.

An ice dam forms when the roof over the attic gets warm enough to melt the underside of the layer of snow on the roof. This is caused by heat escaping through the roof which in turn is caused by poor insulation. The best way to do this is to pour the calcium chloride vertically along the length of the dam.