HERE COMES THE COLD!

12/25/2021 (Permalink)

Winter is coming upon us.  Unfortunately, so will ice dams on our roofs.

Listed below are a few inexpensive solutions you can do yourself.

How to help get rid of ice dams

Once you have ice dams on your roof, your goal should be to eliminate them as quickly as possible to prevent any further damage to the exterior and interior of the house.

1 – ICE MELT SOCKS

1) A few pairs of nylon stockings.
2) A bucket (bag) of Calcium Chloride ice melt.
3) Scissors.

Cut the “leg” part off the stockings, and fill them up with 2-3 pounds of ice melt and tie the ends. That’s it.

Next, go up on the roof, and put ice melt socks vertically, one end onto the gutter and the other end up the roof slopes, spacing them every 3 feet. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN DOING THIS! The socks will create a melt channel in the ice to allow the water to run off your roof. You can also place the socks into the gutters to prevent ice build-up there.

2 – SNOW RAKE

With a snow rake. You can remove snow off your roof before it melts and freezes along the eaves will minimize the effect of ice dams. Try to get rid of as much snow as you can without causing any damage to shingles.

This snow rake has two rollers on the bottom edge as well as a plastic sheet to help snow slide off the roof fast. The plastic sheet helps prevent damage to the shingles.

The rake is sturdy solid aluminum and lightweight. This makes it easy to use by most people.

3 – ICE MELT PUCKS

This product is the same as ice melting socks above. It is made from Calcium Chloride and is sold online, or at home improvement stores.

These, however, are not very effective. They do not work as well as the “sock” and can easily be blown off the roof. Unlike the sock, they just melt the ice around themselves and do not create a path for water to flow down the roof. You will need to use many pucks to get the desired effect.

Only you can decide if ice melt socks, pucks, and/or a roof rake are a good way to deal with ice dams.

If you’d rather not use them, some alternatives worth considering include:

These will require professional installation.

• Ice melting heat cables.
• Extra insulation in your attic to help prevent heat from escaping through the roof and causing ice dams in the first place.
• Ice metal panels that can better shed ice and snow from roofs.