How To Get Rid Of Ice Dams

Preventing The Cause of Ice Dams

How to Prevent & Remove Ice Dams Do you have an ice dam problem at your home? Are you looking for the best methods to get rid of your ice dams? Let's face it, ice damming is a pain in the neck to deal with.

The first part of the process of removing ice dams is to prevent them, to begin with.

Preventing ice dams is just smart as they can cause major damage to your home, including mold in areas you might not be able to see.

Ice dams are a common problem in areas of the country where normal snowfall occurs. If you own a home with poor roof ventilation and a warm attic, you have probably been dealing with ice dams for a while.

When ice dams are not treated effectively, they can lead to major problems with your gutters, roof, insulation, drywall, paint, and structure of the home.

Ice damming, if not dealt with properly, can also result in mold infestations. In other words, you should do your best to remove any existing ice dams and prevent the future accumulation of ice for the long term.

Keep reading, and you will some helpful details on how to prevent and remove ice dams!

What Causes Ice Dams?

Before learning how to fix ice dams, you will need to know what causes them. Ice damming is created after a heavy snowfall when the attic's warmth creates a roof surface that rises above freezing.

Heavy snow acts as an insulator, trapping this heat and causing the snow closest to the roof to melt. This water then flows down the roof, where it promptly freezes again as soon as it goes beyond the warm part of the ceiling.

Usually, this is the last section of the roof, closest to the gutters and beyond the house's walls. Take a look at the numerous diagrams of how an ice dam forms on your roof in this Google search. The ice damming will continue to accumulate until it starts to impact the interior of your house.

Understanding how ice dams form can help you prevent them from happening in the first place.

Damage From Ice Damming

The accumulation of ice can cause a myriad of problems. The most obvious is weight; as the ice gets heavier, it can pull off gutters and cause structural damage to the roof edge. But this is not the end of the destruction. If the damage from ice dams forming were isolated to your home's exterior, you would be getting lucky.

As the name suggests, ice dams form into dams along the edge of the room. As the water above continues to melt and flow down, it eventually rises behind the dam to the roof's warmer section.

This standing water will find a way through the shingles, and the roof's underlayers, eventually making its way into the building.

The water from behind the dam can wreak all sorts of havoc inside the home. It can ruin insulation as it saturates the material, causing it to perform no longer. It can also lead to mold growth in your home and eventually cause your paint to peel or blister as the moisture attempts to exit.

The worst part of it is, most of the time, you do not notice the water intrusion until long after the damage has occurred. All you see is a mound of snow on the edge of your roof and beautiful icicles hanging from your iced-over gutters.

While your initial thought might be that the icicles look amazing, getting rid of them should be your number one priority. Unless, of course, you don't mind the idea of having ice dams and potential damage inside and out of your home!

What to Know About Ice Dam Prevention

Prevent Ice Dams By Insulating Properly Ideally, you want to avoid ice dams from ever forming in the first place. To do this, you will need to tackle the problem at its source – your attic and your roof.

You want to create a situation where the roof always remains close to the outside temperature, requiring removing heat sources within the attic and creating sufficient ventilation through the attic and roof.

Soffit-and-Ridge Ventilation System

The best type of ventilation to prevent ice dams is a continuous soffit-and-ridge vent system. When installed with baffles along the lower edge of the roof, this can create the necessary ventilation to maintain the roof temperature.

Soffit ventilation allows air to come in from outside along the roof's bottom edge, which then cycles up through the baffles and exits out the roof ridge at the building's peak. This cold air is enough to keep the roof surface cool, preventing melting.

The best roofing contractor will also install several feet of an ice and water shield product to help guard against water damage due to ice dams.

If you know your home does not have this product, it may help to have a roofing contractor take up the first four feet of roofing in your worst problem areas and install the ice and water shield product.

Eliminating Attic Heat Sources Helps Prevent Ice Damming

Creating ventilation is just the first step. You also need to remove all heat sources that would create heat in the attic. There are some areas to check in this regard, including:

Attic insulation. The attic floor needs proper insulation to keep the lower floors' heat from exiting through the ceiling. The Insulation Institute has an insulation calculator to determine what type of insulation you should use, based on your zip code. Use this calculator and install the suggested insulation. If you are not sure, going with the highest R-value would be the best choice. It is better to be over insulated than under-insulated. This calculator is an awesome tool as it can give you a reasonable estimate of what you need based on a few factors, including your heat source and whether the home is new or not.

Recessed ceiling lights. If there are recessed ceiling lights installed into the lower floor's roof, they need to be insulated. These lights can produce a surprising amount of heat, all of which can contribute to the ice dam problem.

Folding stair openings. The stairs that you pull down to go up into your attic need to be insulated as well. Some excellent options provide an insulated cover that can be put at the base of the top of the stairs' opening. Having an insulation cover will protect quite a bit of the heat from entering the attic. This, of course, will also allow you to save on your home's energy bill. A nice side benefit when trying to prevent ice damming!

Attic fan. If your home has an attic fan, this is a huge area where heat can escape into the attic. Make sure you purchase an insulated cap for this as well.

Bathroom vent fans. Any bathroom vent fans installed on the floor below should not vent directly into the attic. Sometimes people cut corners and do this, but if this is the case in your home, you should have a contractor address the issue. These vent fans can pour a lot of heat into the attic.

Heating equipment. Furnaces or other heating equipment can sometimes be found in the attic in some homes. These things naturally produce a good deal of heat, which you don't want in the attic. Have a contractor look over the heating equipment and provide you a solution for your particular attic.

Ductwork. Any ductwork flowing through the attic needs to be properly insulated.

Miscellaneous. Plugging gaps around plumbing vents, wiring, recessed lights, and chimneys also can prevent warm air from escaping into the attic. Doing these little things are an excellent way to help prevent ice damming.

Keeping Your Gutters, Clean Helps Stop Ice Damming

Keeping gutters clean is something that every homeowner needs to stay on top of. Although cleaning out the gutters can be unpleasant, especially if many leaves have been allowed to accumulate and rot, cleaning is still necessary to prevent roof problems.

Ice dams will have a harder time forming if the water is allowed to flow off of the house and down the gutter as intended. Cleaning out the gutters has the added benefit of preventing damaged gutters when a freeze comes, as accumulated debris that is wet will freeze. The debris can become thick enough to rip off the gutters.

If you are selling a home in the winter, it becomes even more paramount to keep up with your gutters' maintenance. In fact, this is one of my top tips on selling a home in the winter. The last thing you want is to have your home become the victim of an ice dam issue right in the middle of the selling process.

Getting Rid Of Existing Ice Dams

How to Prevent Ice Dams at Your House You can do two things to eliminate an existing ice dam or ice dams that continue to form.

Use Ice Melt Products to Eliminate Ice Dams

There are some ice melt products out there that you can spread over the ice. Most contain calcium chloride, which can safely and reliably melt ice on your roof. Just be careful when you are applying the product, as ice is slippery and will only become more so as it starts to melt.

Do not use salt, as this can damage your roof's shingles and gutters.

Most standard high-performance ice melting products such as calcium chloride or magnesium chloride will indeed melt the ice. Still, they may also cause staining of the shingles and cause corrosion of the gutters.

Salt will leave a white residue and is very corrosive to metals, so that you might turn your black roof edge into a chalky mess with salt. Wooden gutters will be adversely affected by nearly all chloride deicers, so they are not recommended.

Use a Roof Rake to getting Rid of Ice Damming

Each time you get heavy snow, quickly head outside and use a roof rake to remove the snow from the edge of the roof. If you can get the bottom four feet of snow off, you can usually prevent the ice accumulation.

Avoid Other, More Dangerous Ice Dam Removal Methods

As tempting as it can be to hit the ice with a hammer, a blow torch, or an ice pick, do not do this. You are more likely to hurt yourself than the ice.

Sometimes removing ice dams on roofs is a job that is best left to professionals. You should be able to find a local contractor who will provide ice dam removal services.

Don't plan on this being cheap, though. When an area is hit hard by a brutal winter, ice dam removal can become a service that is in high demand.

In fact, here in Massachusetts, difficult winters are commonplace. It is not unusual for homeowners to have a challenging time staying on top of snow removal.

Not staying on top of snow accumulation has caused thousands of homes across the state to be plagued by ice dam issues.

Here in my real estate office, I have personally seen offers to remove snow and ice from roofs coming into the tune of thousands of dollars. While removing ice dams is hard work, quite a few companies are making a killing!

In tough winters, removing ice dams from roofs can be big business.

Filing an Ice Dam Insurance Claim

How to File an Ice Dam Insurance Claim So what happens when you find that your home has become the victim of an awful ice dam problem? Your first thought will probably be whether or not your home's insurance policy will cover it. This, unfortunately, is not a yes or no answer.

It will depend on a lot of things, including what is written in your policy. However, there is a decent chance that your home insurance will cover the damage created by an ice dam problem.

Most insurance policies provide coverage on an "all perils basis," meaning all losses are covered unless they are specifically excluded. Most often, ice dam problems are not excluded.

If your roof is old and already needs replacement, there is a chance your claim could be denied. The theory is that the roof's age was a contributing factor in why the ice dam was able to cause damage to the interior of the home.

You may have damaged shingles on the outside, and all sorts of issues on the inside from ruined insulation, damaged wallboard, paint, and in some instances, damaged flooring.

Besides the obvious damage, you can see the threat exists that you could also have mold growing in places that you can't see.

When you file a claim, the insurance adjuster will come out and assess the damage. The adjuster will then report back to your insurance company with an estimated cost to repair the damage.

Your insurance provider will usually issue you a check minus the deductible to repair the damages caused by the ice dam.

Video on How to Prevent Ice Dams

Watch the video by This Old House that explains how to prevent ice dams by insulating and ventilating your attic properly. The prevention of ice dams can often be rectified by looking over your attic carefully. Seal up any potential areas where you find drafts.

Make sure you additional insulation where necessary. If you take the proper steps, you can easily minimize your chances of ice dams forming.

How to Prevent Ice Dams | This Old House

Without a doubt having an ice dam is not a pleasant experience. All of the above tips will certainly minimize your chances of getting a problem you don't need!

Frequently Asked Questions About Ice Dams

1. What is the best method of preventing ice dams?

Stopping ice dams is not that difficult. The prevention of ice dams starts with keeping the roof at the same temperature as the eaves. This can be accomplished by adding insulation, increasing ventilation, and sealing all air leaks from the outside.

2. What's the number one cause of ice dams on roofs?

The most common way ice damming occurs is when there is heat loss from the house combined with snow coverage and low outside temperatures. Snow eventually melts and when it does it travels down the roof and reaches the portion where it is below freezing. The freezing temperature then causes the ice dam to form.

3. Do gutters create ice dams?

No. Gutters do not create ice dams. A gutter system, however, will contribute to concentrate ice and water in an area at the edge of your roof.

4. Can you melt ice dams on your roof?

Yes. The easiest way to help melt ice dams is by running hot water over the area where they appear. Installing heat cables can also help in both the prevention of ice dams forming as well as melting them if they have not been turned on before a storm.

5. Can you put ice melt products on your roof?

Yes and no. You should not put ice melting products directly on your roof as it will damage the shingles. You can, however, put ice melt products in socks and place them on the ice dams. This will help the melting process happen quicker.

6. Do snow guards cause ice dams?

No, they do not.

7. Do metal roofs get ice dam problems?

Yes, they do. The same issues that cause ice dams will plague other roof types as well.

Final Thoughts on Getting Rid of Ice Damming Problems

Without a doubt, ice damming issues on roofs can wreak major havoc on your home. The key is preventing ice problems from starting to form. Hopefully, you have found this guide to preventing and getting rid of ice dams to be useful.

About the Author: The above Real Estate information on how to prevent and remove ice dams was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 34+ Years.

Are you thinking of selling your home? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

I service Real Estate Sales in the following Metrowest MA towns: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Natick, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton, and Uxbridge MA.