Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Ice dam (or the reverse if you want)

Icicles were a lot more fun when you were younger.  Now, if you see the big icicles on your house, with gutters filled solid with ice, you worry about what can happen next.  In most cases, the water melts and runs down and out.  Sometimes however, big ice dams can block melting snow and ice from draining away properly.  The water can work its way into the house interior and that can be summed up by saying "it's not pretty".
What to do?
Short tem, try to get the snow off the roof and melt the ice without damaging the roof.  You may need to call in roofing contractors for this. Once off, you may be fine for the rest of the season but it all depends on the weather.
The long term solution is to install roof-gutter heating cables that provide a path for the water to drain away.  It takes planning for where the cabling goes, how much to use, where it plugs in, how to turn it On and Off (manual or automatic). 

No comments:

Post a Comment