The Art Of Safely Removing An Ice Dam From Your Gutter

You may have noticed some icicles attached to and hanging from your gutters and thought that they were visually pleasing. However, be warned they are indicators of damage that may be building up behind them. So let’s figure out what ice dams are, how they’re formed and the best, safest and most effective way to remove them.

So what exactly is an ice dam and how is it caused?

Generally speaking it’s a wall of ice that that starts to form up by the edge of the roof, usually at the gutters. When it’s formed, the excess water starts to back up and behind the “ice dam” and creates a puddle of water that can leak into your house and cause significant damage to walls, insulation and ceilings.

When you have heavy snow fall or a blizzard and your attic isn’t ventilated correctly, this in turn creates warmer areas in your attic. So when the snow begins to melt, the accumulated snow on your roof starts to run down your roof until it reaches a colder section like your gutters and starts to freeze again and voila’ you now have an ice damn.

What is the best way to clean and remove those ice dams?

Regular gutter maintenance as in cleaning your gutters on a regular basis is the first step in this process. However, if the conditions are right, your gutters will still accumulate ice dams, because without a soffit the melted water has nowhere to go it will just re-freeze when it gets into those gutters.

Be warned, removing an ice dam is no easy task. If you’re not the active “handyman” type of person you might want to consider hiring a professional contractor to get the job done. Make sure if you do choose to hire a contractor that they are experienced and know what they’re doing.  There have been several horror stories of un- professional contractors that just removed the gutters and when then next snow came it had nowhere to go and fell to the foundation and flooded the basement!

Some important things I want you to remember when you decide to take on the ice dam removal task yourself.  If you roof is covered in snow, don’t walk on it! And if you’re using a ladder, use it the right way. Don’t step on the top rung and make sure you tie it off etc.

The first thing that you need to do is:

·       Remove the snow and ice from the roof

·       Using a push broom or roof rake slowly and carefully pull it down the slope of the roof line

·       Don’t pull it across the roof, because you may damage your shingles

·       Make a little channel by carefully chipping through the ice dam

·       You don’t need to remove all the ice in gutters, just enough to let the water flow through

·       If you have removed the snow from the roof,  the remaining ice in the gutters will melt out and drain when the temperature rises

To lower your chances of having to deal with ice dams in the future, make sure you properly ventilate and insulate your attic. Do some research to find out how many square feet of ventilation that you need per foot of attic floor, each region varies. You can also look into getting an electric vent fan that works on a thermostat to keep the inside temperature consistent.