Combating Ice Damns!

11 Ways To Combat Ice Dams

Living in an area of the country where ice, snow, and cold is a reality for 5 months of the year posses some difficulties and problems for many when it comes to their roof and eavestrough. I get several calls every year from people who advise me that they have massive ice problems and every one of them blame it on their eavestroughs! I have yet to go to any house and find that the eavestrough is the problem (unless it is filled with debris)!

It's vitally important to understand that the ice build up is usually the result of a heat loss problem in the attic. The heat loss through the ceiling and lack of proper ventilation need to be addressed.

Installing new eavestroughs will NOT have a significant impact on any ice issues you may experience with your home. Properly functioning eavestroughs are definitely an important part of the big picture that may help with this problem but new eavestroughs will not eliminate ice build up if the heat loss problem isn't taken care of. 

Properly functioning eavestrough is essential for proper rainwater management around your home. On a cold winter day, the snow lands on your roof, melts due to heat loss, and freezes once it travels over the exterior wall of the house. Any water that makes it into the eavestroughs also freezes because the aluminum eavestrough is also ice cold.

Here are a number of ways to combat ice problems around your house:

1. Prevent heat escape through the ceiling by making sure there are no major gaps around light fixtures to let warm air into the attic. This is best done from the attic and is easy to see once the loose fill insulation is pulled back a bit. Use spray foam to seal any gaps. Note: Make sure when you go into your attic that you wear old clothes, a long sleeve shirt, goggles, and a good quality mask with a filtered breathing apparatus.  See picture below. The workers did not put the insulation back and now heat is escaping!

2. Make sure the insulation in your attic is approximately16 inches thick to provide about an R-50 insulation value. Ensure it is evenly spread with no bare spots which are often caused by people working in the attic and not spreading the insulation back out properly after the work is completed.  If you have any old electrical materials running through your attic, such as knob and tube wiring or old lights, have a licensed electrician replace these before you insulate.

3. Ensure all bathroom vents vent directly outside through the exterior wall or roof and NOT laid into the soffit.

4. Visually inspect from the attic that the soffits on the home are actually providing fresh cold air. You should be able to have a clear view from the attic into the soffit. You can usually see daylight if there is a clear path to a vented soffit. If you plan on getting your attic blown in, install baffles to ensure the ventilation to the soffit is not compromised. Below is a picture of a baffle.

5. Ensure that there are enough roof vents at the peak of your roof to allow heat to escape.

6. Install heater cables on the roof edge , eavestrough and down pipe. NOTE: This will NOT deal with the root cause of your ice issues. This is just throwing more energy at an energy loss issue. However careful use is needed in some cases. Some houses would require a major renovation to get to the root cause of heat loss due to vaulted ceilings etc.

7. Remove snow off the roof so it cannot melt and cause problems. Some roof tops can be reached from the ground using a roof snow rake which is much safer than going up a ladder this time of year. If you are attempting to remove snow off a roof, BE EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS!

8. Inspect soffits from the exterior to ensure that most or better yet all of the soffits are perforated with little holes to allow the attic breathe. Unfortunately many old homes have a layer of plywood hidden under the aluminum soffit which ideally should be removed to allow for maximum ventilation. To determine this, a piece of soffit will have to be removed to inspect it. Most homes built before 1975 will have plywood soffit.  When the aluminum soffits were done at a later point to cover the old plywood soffit, the installers generally did not remove it. At the very least make sure there is a 1 foot square hole cut in the old plywood every 6-8 feet. Every piece of new soffit should be perforated.

9. Improperly sloped eavestroughs can also cause major icing issues. However, they don't lead to actual ice dams. I have attended people's homes where there are sometimes 3-4 inches of water standing in the eavestroughs. They are either sloped the wrong way or else they are just old and sagged over time. In most instances, these eavestoughs CAN NOT be repaired. They must be replaced so that the slope can be made correct. In general, resloping an eavestrough takes more work and costs more money than simply replacing it.

10. If you live in an area with mature trees, make sure your eavestroughs are cleaned at least twice annually! In my opinion, this is one of the most neglected home maintenance items on a house! I guess it's out of sight, out of mind. Many do not see the debris in their eavestroughs and so they do not think about it. If you live around any mature trees, YOU WILL have to clean your eavestroughs! If you do not feel comfortable climbing a ladder to clean them, hire an insured professional to clean them out. The best time to clean eavestrough is late spring and late fall. Don't forget when cleaning your eavestroughs to make sure the downpipes are also clear of debris!!!! Remember, if the water cannot flow through the eavestrough and out the downpipe, it has nowhere to go! See below!

11.  If the bottom of your downpipes are at ground level, make sure that nothing plugs up the bottom of the downpipe, such as grass, leaves, snow or ice. Make sure the pipe has not been crushed or damaged. If the bottom of the downpipe is blocked, the whole eavestrough system will back up and freeze solid in winter time.

For quality eavestrough work contact The Eavestrough Compnay at our website at http://www.theeavestroughcompany.com or phone us at 1-905-966-2564