How To Remove Ice Dams On Your Roof

An ice dam can damage both your roof and the inside of your home.

How to remove ice dams on your roof.

Because of this it pools up and leaks back into your house causing damage to the roof and attic. Ask this old house general contractor tom silva explains the best ways to keep your roof and gutters free from those dreaded ice dams. Ice dams appear quickly after a heavy snow because of the insulating properties of snow. See below for a shopp.

An ice dam is a hump of ice that forms at the edge of a roof under certain wintertime conditions. If necessary use a long handled garden rake or hoe to push it into position. This scenario is often the result of a warm attic. It will put gutters and downspouts.

Water stains or moisture may be an indication that an ice dam has formed and water has penetrated the roof membrane. One way to remove an ice dam is to melt it using calcium chloride ice melt. Stop ice dams with a cold roof. Removing an ice dam from your roof immediately after spotting the signs can be critical to helping prevent damage to your home.

Ice dams forming on your roof can damage your home leading to costly repairs. This does not involve climbing onto a snow and ice covered roof and putting yourself at risk. The calcium chloride will eventually melt through the snow and ice and create a channel for water to flow down into the gutters or 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.

Use a roof rake after heavy snowfalls. Lay the hose onto the roof so it crosses the ice dam and overhangs the gutter. Here are five ways to remove an ice dam from your 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.

Eliminate its fuel source if left alone the ice dam will continue to be built up by the snow and ice up on your roof. Several quick fixes but only one cure. How to remove an ice dam. One way to get in front of potential ice dams is to remove the snow that causes them before it has a chance to melt.

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. Ice dams and icicles form when the snow melts runs down your roof and refreezes near the edge.