Breaking the Ice Dams

Winter may be a good time to kick back and relax with family and friends especially during the holidays. The snow outside also evokes a peaceful feeling as one year ends and another begins. There's just one problem: you step out onto your lawn and see large icicles just outside your gutters. Yep, that’s right: ice dams, which form because of excessive heat in the attic that melt the snow on the roof and freeze again when they reach the trough. When they are left unchecked, they spell looming disaster for the roofing system and will warrant help from a trusted roofing specialist.

Removing the ice dams are needed to get the weight off the roof as much as cleaning the gutters during wet season. Some home improvement experts advise that ice dams may be initially prevented by going outside and using a roof rake to scrape off the snow up to four feet from the edge of the roof. Using other tools such as axes or ice picks is heavily discouraged out of personal danger.

Your contractor may step in to correct the problem; sometimes, the danger doesn’t just go away from eliminating the ice dams. The methods to remove the ice dams may include high-pressure steam for gradual melting. A full inspection of the entire roofing system will help determine the degree of repairs.