Ice Dam On Roof Gutters

This myth has lingered like a bad smell and has resulted in many puzzled frustrated homeowners.

Ice dam on roof gutters.

Ice dams on gutters result from melting snow over a heated building reaching the eave and freezing. An ice dam is a hump of ice that forms at the edge of a roof under certain wintertime conditions. More critically ice dams can cause meltwater to back up under the shingles where it can flow down and ruin ceiling and wall surfaces. The snowmelt freezes on the overhang creating an ice dam and then the melted water backs up into the warmer roof area doesn t freeze and seeps into your home.

Fill the leg of discarded pair of panty hose with a calcium chloride ice melter. They occur in climates with cold winter temperatures and regular snowfall. An ice dam can damage both your roof and the inside of your home. Severe ice dams can weigh many hundreds of pounds compromising the structure of the roof eaves.

See below for a shopp. An ice dam is defined as a build up of ice that gathers on the eaves of sloped roofs. Though ice dams can look picturesque with dangling icicles it s actually hard on your home. And this is where the confusion.

This in turn adds to the ice sickle or ice dam and will cause it to grow. Ice dams are a common sight in northern new england winters and home partners has dealt with quite a few. Helmet heat is wired throughout your gutters and downspouts. Two types of people will tell you that gutters cause ice dams.

The notion that gutters cause ice dams to form on your roof is one of them. Water that freezes then creates a dam or dripping point that unfrozen water will naturally follow. It will put gutters and downspouts at risk too. Those freezing conditions are transferred to water in your gutter system allowing it to freeze along the edge of gutters as well as in the valley.

With it snow melts before it hits the eaves of your roof and water flows down your heated gutters and downspouts. Ask this old house general contractor tom silva explains the best ways to keep your roof and gutters free from those dreaded ice dams. Lay the hose onto the roof so it crosses the ice dam and overhangs the gutter. People who don t know the science behind ice dams and people who want to sell you a gutter system that supposedly prevents ice dams from forming.