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Ice Dams


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I have some very large ice dams on the roof of my house. Problem started around Christmas when we got dumped on with rain, sleet and snow and has built since then. I wasn't all that worried about them. I just thought I would have to deal with some gutter damage and make sure I kept the side walks clean from drippage.

 

Yesterday, I was in the hardware store and heard a guy talking about how an ice dam had caused water to back up into his house and ruin a wall. Now, I'm a little scared. I don't want to get up on the roof and end up falling and killing myself. Should I just go the snow rake route? Any other ideas on how to break it up?

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Snow rake, a good ladder, and a big-ass blowdryer to melt a hole in the dam. How high is your roof? 1 story or 2 story? Go easy on the snow rake so you don't damage your roof with it though. When I used mine I always left a small layer of snow so I wasn't dragging it across the shingles.

 

You and Ursa should get together, he's got the same problem.

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Snow rake, a good ladder, and a big-ass blowdryer to melt a hole in the dam. How high is your roof? 1 story or 2 story? Go easy on the snow rake so you don't damage your roof with it though. When I used mine I always left a small layer of snow so I wasn't dragging it across the shingles.

 

You and Ursa should get together, he's got the same problem.

Got rid of mine. Called a snow and ice clearance company who said they couldn't get out here for several days so I spent 5 freakin' hours up a ladder creating a channel at front and another at back to let the water out. Fortunately, the clearance company showed up that evening and within 90 minutes, had the ice dams completely removed the entire length of front and back of the house. :wacko: Amazing what the proper equipment can do.

 

General - you need to call a snow and ice clearance specialist because it is very likely water has already backed up under the shingles and if you haven't got it inside the house yet, it's because it's still busy soaking your insulation in the attic. That's what I'll have to deal with in the spring but at least the water can now flow off the roof without causing further damage. Water will show up in the house after the insulation becomes saturated.

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Cheap, quick fix is taking a women's nylon/stocking and stuffing it with rock salt. Throw that sucker up on the roof perpendicular to the roof line and coming to the edge of the gutter. It will melt away a channel in the ice. The water will flow through this channel and off the roof rather than getting backed up behind the dam.

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I have a weird corner between the garage and house that backs up. If I don't keep the heating element plugged in, it backs into the garage wall, will need to replace the drywall in the garage this summer. I am sure the insulation is effed, but it did not get to the drywall inside the house. Guess I'll see that when I replace the drywall in the garage. This spring I will be asking the huddle experts how to mimic the textured garage surface.

 

I climbed up a ladder and hammered the area with calcium chloride per recommendation from the builder. I bought a 5 gallon pail of it and poured about 1/4 of it on the ice. It took care of the roughly 8" thick slab within an hour or so. I did climb back up and remove some bigger chunks to make sure it was clear. The single strand of heating element seemed to work for me now.

 

 

The best way to cure it is to move south, I am sick of winter. I haven't seen the sun in what feels like months.

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In one of our worst winters (1978-9) I had up to 3 foot thick ice dams all around my house(Hip roof w/ 2.5' overhangs). Water was coming in between the storm windows and the prime windows, so I had to drill holes thru the top and sill or I would have had aquariums in all my windows. I started w/ an ice pick on the worst areas, no way a rake would work as it was solid ice. It took many days, 8 hours/day before I hit the mother load on the worst side. The water flowed for an hour or more. Did the same on the other sides and the leakage finally stopped.

 

I was told at the time that the salt would work, but it would damage the shingles. The best remedy needs to be done before. Electric cables will do a good job, but good ventilation/insulation is the easiest solution. The following summer I put 6" of extra insulation and cut vents into the overhangs every 5' or so. Never had a problem again. On my current house I had them install 8' of ice dam material instead of the normal 4' when we re-roofed (Gable w/ 6" overhangs) our house. Also ripped out the overhangs and installed a continuous vent w/ plastic chutes between the rafters to help guide the air from the overhang to the ridge vent.

Good luck. Those things are a royal pain.

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In one of our worst winters (1978-9) I had up to 3 foot thick ice dams all around my house(Hip roof w/ 2.5' overhangs). Water was coming in between the storm windows and the prime windows, so I had to drill holes thru the top and sill or I would have had aquariums in all my windows. I started w/ an ice pick on the worst areas, no way a rake would work as it was solid ice. It took many days, 8 hours/day before I hit the mother load on the worst side. The water flowed for an hour or more. Did the same on the other sides and the leakage finally stopped.

 

I was told at the time that the salt would work, but it would damage the shingles. The best remedy needs to be done before. Electric cables will do a good job, but good ventilation/insulation is the easiest solution. The following summer I put 6" of extra insulation and cut vents into the overhangs every 5' or so. Never had a problem again. On my current house I had them install 8' of ice dam material instead of the normal 4' when we re-roofed (Gable w/ 6" overhangs) our house. Also ripped out the overhangs and installed a continuous vent w/ plastic chutes between the rafters to help guide the air from the overhang to the ridge vent.

Good luck. Those things are a royal pain.

 

WHat is Ice Dam material? I was thinking there has to be a solution for me that would allow me to remove the heating element. Not to hijack, but thanks!

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Well.....I've never seen it this bad around here. Every single house up and down the street has HUGH ice dams. We are 4 inches away from a record February snowfall, but the main culprit was that first heavy snow. WET snow....it pretty quickly melted into slabs of ice everywhere. Our side street is harrowing......lol. There is one ice rut....you can't pass anyone.

 

We've had one or two days of sunshine (even though it was only 20 degrees) and the dams were trying hard to clear themselves. But it seems we needed a couple more straight days of sun......no way we were getting temps above 32. This third storm dumped another 11 inches on Monday and Tuesday. And we have two more minor storms on the way this weekend into next week. :wacko:

 

Going out this afternoon to see what I can do. I just don't have a clue where I can set a ladder.......LOL. Mounds and mounds of snow. So far...no damage that I know of....but better safe than sorry. I can't let it snow anymore without getting some of this water moving in the right direction. :D

 

I've got some ice melt pellets. Hope I don't kill any landscape plants in the process. :D

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WHat is Ice Dam material? I was thinking there has to be a solution for me that would allow me to remove the heating element. Not to hijack, but thanks!

It's a rubbery membrane with a sticky tar-like backing that they put on the first 4 to 8 feet of roof sheathing before you shingle. It gets wrapped around the ends of the sheathing and prevents water from getting into your structure.

 

Now.....it doesn't prevent damming.....just the structural damage. The venting RR is talking about in the soffits helps keep air moving and in effect...keeps the snow.....snow. Heat builds up in closed spaces of your house......attic......soffits.....and that is what melts the snow from underneath. Once the water hits a cold spot.....say.....your gutters......it refreezes. Creating an ice dam.

 

I made sure to cut more roof vents when I reroofed 3 years ago......but I admit......I did not cut in soffit vents at that time. I only have a soffit on about 1/6th of my roof......so venting wouldn't have prevented what is happening now.....for me anyway.

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WHat is Ice Dam material? I was thinking there has to be a solution for me that would allow me to remove the heating element. Not to hijack, but thanks!

 

It's a waterproof membrane that goes under the shingles. The way it works is if/when water is forced under the shingle the water can not soak thru the roof. Usually the roofer would use tar paper and the nails from the shingles penetrate this type of material leaving potential leak spots. The ice dam membrane is rubberized and sort of self-heals around the nails.

 

http://www.askthebuilder.com/148_Wind_Blow..._Barriers.shtml

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It's a rubbery membrane with a sticky tar-like backing that they put on the first 4 to 8 feet of roof sheathing before you shingle. It gets wrapped around the ends of the sheathing and prevents water from getting into your structure.

 

Now.....it doesn't prevent damming.....just the structural damage. The venting RR is talking about in the soffits helps keep air moving and in effect...keeps the snow.....snow. Heat builds up in closed spaces of your house......attic......soffits.....and that is what melts the snow from underneath. Once the water hits a cold spot.....say.....your gutters......it refreezes. Creating an ice dam.

 

I made sure to cut more roof vents when I reroofed 3 years ago......but I admit......I did not cut in soffit vents at that time. I only have a soffit on about 1/6th of my roof......so venting wouldn't have prevented what is happening now.....for me anyway.

 

 

It's a waterproof membrane that goes under the shingles. The way it works is if/when water is forced under the shingle the water can not soak thru the roof. Usually the roofer would use tar paper and the nails from the shingles penetrate this type of material leaving potential leak spots. The ice dam membrane is rubberized and sort of self-heals around the nails.

 

http://www.askthebuilder.com/148_Wind_Blow..._Barriers.shtml

 

Thanks a bunch. Mine is in a small area, so I may take on the project this summer, the builder did nothing like this in that area.

 

Good luck and stay warm.

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It's a waterproof membrane that goes under the shingles. The way it works is if/when water is forced under the shingle the water can not soak thru the roof. Usually the roofer would use tar paper and the nails from the shingles penetrate this type of material leaving potential leak spots. The ice dam membrane is rubberized and sort of self-heals around the nails.

 

http://www.askthebuilder.com/148_Wind_Blow..._Barriers.shtml

 

I know that our house was reshingled about five years ago, four years before we moved in. Crossing my fingers that they spent the couple hundred dollars extra on ice/waterproofing it.

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Thanks for the help everyone. Ursa pointed me in the direction of the guy he used. He's so busy that I won't see him for a couple of days. So for tonight, i'm getting a snow rake and I'll try POC's idea. Wish me luck. And good luck Bunz. Let me know how your adventure ends.

You may see them sooner than you think. I called on a Wednesday, was told they were booked out for a week, yet they showed up Thursday evening. Saved my ass big time as I had water starting to come through in the (not yet completed) kitchen.

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Well......don't think I made much headway. It started sleeting/freezing rain while I was getting the ladders out. :D

 

Made the ladders a bit too slick to risk it too high. So I tried getting the lower gutters to give up the ghost at least. :D

 

We'll see......just hope I didn't make anything worse. :wacko:

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