WHAT IS AN ICE DAM?
An ice dam is a wall of ice that forms at the edge of the roof, usually at the gutters or soffit.
The water then backs up behind the ice dam and creates a pool of water.
This pool of water can leak into a home and cause damage to walls, ceilings, insulation, and other areas.
Ice dams are usually caused by improper ventilation in the attic.
This will cause warmer areas in your attic and snow melt, even when the outside temperature is well below freezing.
Ice dams are created when melting snow refreezes when it reaches a “colder” section of the roof.
These colder areas are usually above the soffits or in valleys and gutters.
Cleaning the gutters on your home can help prevent ice dams from occurring as quickly, but they can still occur.
The gutters will be just as cold as it is outside and in some cases, full of frozen debris.
If you don’t have a soffit for the water to re-freeze, the melted water will most likely re-freeze when flowing into the gutters.
HOW CAN I PREVENT ICE DAMS?
Proper ventilation and insulation in the attic is the best way to prevent ice dams.
The recommendation for vents is 1 square foot of vent for every 150 feet of attic area.
Very few houses are vented properly.
Small louvered windows in the attic, known as gable vents, can be replaced with larger vents or electric fan vents.
These fans will pull outside air into the attic and keep the temperature inside cooler.
HOW CAN I REMOVE AN EXISTING ICE DAM?
Properly removing an ice dam can be quite dangerous if you don’t know what your doing.
Media have suggested hiring a contractor to pull the gutters off your home so the whole ice dam process would be solved.
This suggestion was well intended but wrong.
Contractors that started removing gutters caused significant damage to roofing and guttering systems all over the state.
Then when the snow melted it dropped next to the homes foundation and caused basement flooding.
WARNING!
Inexperienced contractors may cause damage to your home.
Performing ice dam removal is risking personal injury and damage to the roof.
Always contact professionals with roofing experience clear ice dams from your roof.
Call the Ice dam experts today to deal with your ice dam problem and fix the source of the problem.
Madison Restoration
608-222-5255