Here’s a common question Cincinnati roofing companies get during freezing winter weather:
“What Are Ice Dams?”
An ice dam occurs when there is a frozen layer of ice that traps snow in place. The snow and ice are not a problem when they remain frozen, unless they are overloading the roof of your home or business. The problem occurs when the snow begins to melt but stays trapped behind the frozen ice, turning into dammed water. The water is held in place by the ice dam, and it may not be noticed because it is covered by an outer layer of snow and ice, but it can’t drain away or evaporate. All it can do is sit beside the exterior of your home, and, as more snow from your roof or gutters melts, it can back up behind the ice dam and leak up under your roof surface and into your home. Ice dams can cause damage to your Cincinnati home’s roof, walls and other structural elements of the house.
Ice dams normally form when the snow on the top of the roof melts, runs down to the eaves, and freezes into ice. The melted ice can soak into the roof sheath, while the freezing process does damage to the materials of the roof. Eventually, the water can seep into the attic and drywall, damaging your home’s basic structure. At the same time, the cold moisture reduces the effectiveness of your insulation and can foster mold growth.
How Can You Prevent Ice Dams?
Ice dams on your home’s roof can be caused by poor attic ventilation, poor roof ventilation plus a warm attic, or clogged or poorly draining gutters. Improving the drainage from your roof can help prevent this problem. This could be done by putting a wide metal drip edge on the bottom three feet of your roof, or even just simply cleaning your gutters so that any rainwater or snowmelt moves easily away from your roof surface.
One way to fix ice dams is to better insulate your roof so that the warmth inside your house stays there, and enough heat to melt the ice doesn’t escape. When snow and ice remain frozen on your roof, they aren’t leaking into your home. Removing heat sources from the attic like overheated HVAC motors can be an important part of this process.
Another approach is increasing the ventilation in your attic and roof so that your roof remains at the same temperature as the outside air — if your roof surface isn’t warm enough to melt the ice and snow, there’s no water to dam in place. And once the air temperature is warm enough to melt the snow and ice, it will generally melt from the outside in, which does not create ice dams. This can be done by adding or improving ventilation at the roof ridge or with specially installed roof ventilators. The goal here is to keep the roof deck as close to the outside air temperature as possible.
Putting more insulation in the attic of your home will help keep your living spaces warm while preventing heat from melting ice on the roof, though this won’t do anything to repair roof damage if it has already occurred. (For that, you’ll need to call in an expert roof repair company, like all of us here at Harper.)
Regularly clearing your drains and gutters improves drainage, though to prevent ice dams, you need to do this with warm water in the winter as well as clearing the gutters when leaves are piling up in the fall. You could clear away heavy snow with a roof rake (though we do not advise you do this due to safety concerns) to prevent ice dams from occurring, because you’d be removing the ice that could act as protective insulation for the melt water. Note that if you’re going to attempt this, this should be done while standing on the ground – don’t stand on the roof to try clear the bottom four feet of snow!
Here’s a great resource for learning more about ice dam prevention.
How Can You Fix Ice Dams When They Occur?
If there has been light snow, heat tape could melt an ice dam. However, if you have heavy snow, heat tape will simply cause the ice dam to move further up the roof where it is harder to fix. And if your gutters are full of leaves or are frozen solid with water, such that the melt water can’t drain away, heat tape will actually make the problem worse. (So this isn’t the right approach.)
Another tactic is to apply ice melt products. If you have an ice dam forming, these products will help melt the ice that is causing the blockage. Again, this method would only work if you have good drainage, so clear the gutters and drains before melting the ice. Note that this process should not involve rock salt. That will damage your paint, the metal of your roof and gutters and any plants in the area where the melted water drains.
Depending on the situation, you may need to resort to professional ice dam removal. This often involves the use of low pressure steamers to melt the snow and ice from the outside and push it away. Do not use a high pressure power washer to do this, since that can damage your shingles or push more water up under your roof surface. If you want to clear an ice dam yourself, you can try to break the exterior part of the ice free in small chunks. Don’t use a sharp tool, though, because it could cut through the shingles. This will give the water an easier route into the house, accelerating the water damage. Use a mallet instead. If you don’t know where the ice dam is or don’t want to get up on the roof, many roofing contractors offer this type of service during the winter. Call us – we’re happy to help.
Cincinnati Ice Dam Specialists
Preventing ice dams before they happen is the key. This means ensuring your roof, insulation, gutters and other exterior components of your Cincinnati home are working properly – and preferably taking care of all of this before the coldest part of the winter (late fall is a perfect time for a roof/gutter checkup to prevent ice dams). Thus, we highly recommend you keep your roof and gutters in good working order (and maintained regularly). Please contact us if you would like a roof inspection so that we can determine if you are in good shape for the winter cold that we see in our area.