Help please,
My roof is getting a ice dam in the gutters.

Is there anything I can do? Or is it a wait till spring and fix whatever has gotten damaged?

Clear the snow above it, salt the ice that's left. Repeated applications of the salt may be required.

We typically get up there and hack them out, but be careful if you decide to try that- I've repaired a lot of roofs and gutters that were damaged by overenthusiastic homeowners.

That's what I was concerned with, damaging the roof or gutters.

So it is not good to leave it till spring?

Here's what happens- the heat from your house melts the snow above living spaces, this water runs down the roof and refreezes on the eaves where there's no heat from the house. Water keeps coming and keeps freezing until you have an ice dam with water continuing to puddle behind it. Once you have standing water behind the ice dam, it's going to get past the shingles, which weren't designed to hold standing water. If you have ice and water barrier installed it should shed the water to the gutter edge- you may get some water dripping out from behind the gutter, but no major harm done. If there is no ice and water barrier, you'll get leaks at the exterior wall, and that can get pricey.

Remove it if you can, or call a professional. That would be my advice unless you know for a fact that you have ice and water barrier up there.

Oh very doubtful that there would be ice/water shield since the we bought the house from the original builder/owner.
The house was built in 1968 and has three layers of singles. I don't think ice/water barrier was common in the 60's.
I will be removing snow and salting.

Thanks for the help.

Make a scraper out of plie wood and a pole long enough to reach the peak of the roof from the gutter. Than standing on an extension ladder scrape the snow off the roof. Then you can salt the ice. Once the snow is off the roof the sun should be enough to keep the roof clear till the next snow then the fun starts all over. Be safe and good luck. NO FEAR OF FALLING! :-)

Or go to Home Depot and spend $25 on a snow rake ;)

You're on the right track, though. Good advice.

I HATE home depot but there is one right on the way home sooooo.

You don't know Slowride very well.


"Buy it! Fuck that I can spend three days making that from my scrap pile out back"

You could also install heater wire in the gutter and downspout to keep the flow of water moving.

You already have a problem my friend.

The ice behind the gutter is water flowing under and behind the gutter. As it freezes it expands and enlarges the openings.
You better get rid of it.

Click to view attachment

This was our house 2 winters ago.
The ice gets very heavy before the spring.


Click to view attachment

If I understand things correctly, that is normally a sign of poor insulation in the attic allowing too much heat to escape to the roof. That causes the thawing. Is your attic vented? How much insulation do you have up there? This will be an ongoing problem until you resolve the root cause.

I was concerned about that too but we have not had this problem in the 3 previous seasons.
We had had a freezing rain/snow storm last week.
I feel the majority of this is from that storm. The whole roof is a sheet of ice.
The guy at the hardware store recommended calcium chloride vs rock salt.
At least we don't have any leaks yet (knock on wood). The neighbors have leaks in the kitchen.

This is true, but when the temperature hovers right around freezing and there's a substantial amount of snow on the roof it'll happen even to a well insulated/ventilated house. Nothing is perfect, and it's always a little warmer over living spaces. I know when Eddy posted this we had pretty much exactly those conditions down here, 80 miles south of him.

Yes, we have had mild temps around freezing with some freezing rain.

I have had good success with calcium chloride in the gutters and a roof rake.

Thanks for the info ya'll.

I would get this...



http://www.easyheat.com/Content1/Products/...adks_detail.htm

That way I wouldn't be risking falling off the house or damaging the shingles. Lowe's carries them here.

Goodluck.

Thanks for the link. That is a system I am considering, but this has never been an issue before.

With a roof rake, from the ground(ranch house) I was able to clear a lot of snow.
Then on a step ladder, put some ice melt stuff in the gutters.
With just a couple of applications of ice melt, gutters clear.

Thanks again for all the info everyone.

Well I guess I didn't get enough cleared out of the gutters cause yesterday it started raining in the front hall closet.

Have you gone up in the attic and checked out the damage? Roof damage?

Yes, couldn't see anything cause the house is L shaped and the vaulted ceiling in the dinning/living room leaves a crawl space so small my wife couldn't even get in there.

We are having a big warm up (47degrees) for a few days and everything is melting. It stopped raining in the closet but we still have some wetness around the light fixture outlet box.

My last house in New York used to ice up BAD. To the point that the ice would melt and creep into the bay window. I sold that fucking house and moved to Arizona, my new house NEVER has that problem.

Then put a cactus in your avatar instead of a New York logo

Thanks