Fast Fixes for Ice DamsIce Dam

Prevent ice dams prior to the snow even falls

Icicles hanging across the eaves of the house may look beautiful, however they spell trouble. Like exactly the same problems that allow icicles to create-snow-covered roofs and freezing weather-also result in ice dams: thick side rails of solid ice that develop across the eaves. Dams can tear off rain gutters, release roofing shingles, and cause water to support and pour to your house. When that occurs, the outcomes aren’t pretty: peeling fresh paint, warped flooring, stained and sagging roofs. As well as saturated insulation within the loft, which manages to lose R-value and turns into a magnet for mildew and mold.

Birth of the Ice Dam

•    Heat collects within the loft and warms up the roof, except in the eaves.

•    Snow touches around the warm roof after which freezes around the cold eaves.

•    Ice builds up across the eaves, developing a dam. Water melt in the warm roof supports behind it, flows underneath the roofing shingles, and in to the house.

Easy Fixes Ice Dams

Hacking away at ice dams having a hammer, chisel, or shovel isn’t good for the roofing-and harmful for you personally. And tossing salt in it is going to do more to injury to your plants rather than the ice. Lacking praying for decent weather, listed here are two stop-gap measures we advise:

Blow in cold air: Have a box fan in to the loft and goal it in the bottom from the roof where water is positively seeping in. This specific dose of cold air will freeze the water in the tracks. “You’ll steer clear of the leak within minutes,”states Ernie’s Roofing Siding Gutter contractor Ernie Ruiz.

Rake it: Accomplish snow having a lengthy-handled aluminum roof rake (above) when you stand securely on the floor. A rake with wheels will not harm the roofing.

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