Winter in Minnesota is gorgeous, but this year's fluctuating temperatures created some serious ice dams! Ice dams are those unnatural wonders that form when the edge of the roof—typically the gutter—is filled with ice, preventing melting snow and ice from draining off the roof. Looking for an alternate route, water typically finds its way into the home and creates water damage to ceilings, walls, and insulation. Who wants mold and mildew infesting their home? Yuck! So here are some tried and true methods to fix your ice dam woes.
Ice dams can not only be removed, but they can also be prevented. Make sure you do each of these steps with care to minimize damage to the roof and yourself!
Ice Dam Is In Place...and Leaking
1. Snow Removal: The first step is to remove as much water from the roof as possible. Grab a snow rake or fashion one out of a long pole with a flat edge at the end. Simply "rake" the snow off of the roof. Make sure you shovel the snow away from the foundation of your home to prevent any additional leaking.
2. Channel: The next step if you have water leaking into your home is to create channels for the water to escape past the dam. Some use picks and rubber hammers to create paths and others use warm water to break through the ice. This is only a temporary solution, though.
3. Chip: Here is where you call in the professionals. Most ice dams need to be completely removed if leaking has occurred. So let the professionals step in with their tools and knee-pads to completely chip away the ice from the roof. The roof should be ice-free when they are finished. This past winter in Minnesota there were several fatal incidents when homeowners decided to take on the ice dam themselves, so we highly recommend calling this one in. They are also experienced in chipping away the ice without demolishing your roof.
4. Steam: Another option when bringing in the professionals is to melt the ice dam with heat mats and/or hot water. Just like the chipping method, the ice should be completely gone when they are finished. One concern homeowners often have is that the melting process or addition of hot water will lead to more water damage. This can be the case dependent on your roof and your house, so it is something to consider. We do not recommend running your garden hose onto your roof if you have a large ice dam. We speak from secondhand experience on this one.
Since typically ice dams that are causing trouble are already leaking, it is assumed that you may need to have some work done to your home once the weather warms. Below are some tips for preventing future ice dams, but be sure to ask the professionals why your house leaked and to make sure that any damage, both water damage and roof damage, is taken care of before next winter. Water damage can lead to serious mold and mildew problems in insulation, ceilings, and walls.
Preventing Future Ice Dams
1. Heat Wires: One option to prevent future ice dams is to install heated wires that run along the edge of your roof. They help melt the snow before it turns into ice and then ice dams.
2. Roof Assessment: Getting your roof assessed by a professional can help determine ice dam vulnerabilities. Ice dams are often the result of heat transfer from the home, so each home is different. Typically these studies will assess whether your home is air tight, and if not the heat from your home could be leaking toward your roof and adding to your ice dam woes. If approaching this issue on your own, please consider effective ventilation as well. We recommend including this step as part of a home energy audit to get more bang for your buck!
For more information, check out the University of Minnesota's article on Ice Dams.
We have heard rumors of Urea Fertilizers and other methods as well. Any reader tips on what has worked best for you?
(Images: Radiant Solutions, Alternative Energy Blog, Horizon Energy Systems, 1800 New Roof, RainMan Rain Gutters, Active Rain)
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Minnesota native, here to sound off!
I've never had a problem with ice dams. I've never lived anywhere that's had them. Then again, I've never lived anywhere with gutters.
I've seen houses with ice damming so bad that there's icicles forming from the top sill of the windows.
For the money, I'd say a snow rake is probably the best way to prevent it. After a blizzard, go out and knock some of the snow down. Simple as that. Those heat wires are pretty cool, too.
Now if only we could get those solar energy people to design roofing panels that can take the weight of snow...
When i re-shingled my roof, I laid on 6 feet of a rubber membrane called Ice and Water Shield at the bottom end of the roof, which prevents ice dams from leaking into the house.
Ask your roofing contractor to include this or a similar membrane, its worth the few extra bucks.
Also, if you have a poorly insulated attic, you are more prone to ice dams. The ideal is a high R-value of insulation between the attic and the ceiling below it, and the attic itself kept cold, by venting it with gable, ridge, and soffit vents.
If you have a recurring ice dam in one particular place on your roof, put a box fan in the attic about 3 feet from the problem area, point it to that area of the roof sheathing, and turn it on. The cold air the fan blows toward it will help keep the ice dam from forming.
thx, eric. GardenFork.TV
We have a 50's single story ranch with an unfinished attic. We always had icicles and once (only once thank goodness) we had an ice dam... leaked into our living room. Ugh!
The house had gable vents but we heard we needed a ridge vent... did that when we reshingled and we did the rubber membrane like GardenFork.TV... but we still had icicles.
So... we had circular vents installed all along the roof soffits (see 2nd picture... a soffit is the area between the gutter and the outer wall of the house in this photo) This allowed the cold outer air to circulate into the attic. We then installed something called "proper" (sp?) vents which channeled the cold air and kept it against the inner surface of the roof. Then we added extra insulation to the attic floor to up the R-value.
My husband drilled and installed the soffits and proper vents (awesome! ... 'cause he's not really handy)... a contractor blew in the insulation.
Finally... here in the cold Northeast... not an icicle in sight and my fuel cost went down too.
We had a pretty ferocious ice dam right above our bathroom. Instead of trying to chip channels into it ourselves or pay someone to do it, we made a snow snake. You take an old pair of nylons, put one leg into the other to make a single tube, fill the nylons with sidewalk salt, and tie off the open end. Putting the salt in the nylon is supposed to reduce the possibility of the salt staining your shingles. Place the snow snake perpendicular to your gutter or the edge of your roof. After one night on the dam, a 8 inch deep channel was made! Move the snow snake and repeat as many times as needed.
I had our roofing contractor do the same thing. That is a really good idea, and definitely worth the money. I have had problems with ice dams in the past while I was living in Minnesota, and I don't want to have any issues with them in my new house.