How to Get Rid of and Prevent Ice Dams

When the weather turns cold, you want to keep as much heat that you’re paying for inside your home, but if that heat radiates up through the ceiling space and up into the attic, it can actually aid in the formation of an ice dam. When it snows outside and the temperatures drop very low, snow piles up on top of your roof and that’s where ice dams can form, especially if you’re losing heat from your attic space. Learn how to get rid of and prevent ice dams in this Ace Hardware video:

If you’re losing heat from your attic space, it’s very important that you maintain the proper insulation and ventilation in an attic space to hold as much of that heat in your living area and not allowing it to escape up into the attic space, but even for homes that do not have that problem, if Mother Nature throws you a curve ball, you can still get an ice dam. Ice dams can form along the perimeter of a home. They can form in a valley where two roof lines meet together. When that builds up, ice can form underneath the shingles and start to leak inside your home.

There are some things you can do to alleviate the pressure of ice dams if you already have them. You can use a roof rake to remove some of the snow; this will help the sun melt the ice. There is also a product called Roofmelt which is calcium chloride pressed into tablets that you can toss onto the roof to try to melt the snow. Alternatively, you can fill a pair of nylons with pelletized calcium chloride and place them on the roof.

Making sure your gutters and downspouts are clean before winter arrives will help prevent ice dams. There are heat cables that you can apply to the roof and plug in to prevent ice dams from forming (check with your city to make sure they are allowed and follow installation and operation recommendations).