One way to protect your home from water damage is Roof Ice Dam Prevention. If you get an ice dam on your roof, there are certain steps you’ll need to take to get rid of this. An ice dam is a buildup of ice that is on the eaves of a sloped roof. This results from snow melting under a snow pack and then reaching the eave and freezing there. The melted water will backup behind the dam and possibly leak into your home. This can cause damage to multiple areas such as the insulation, walls, ceilings and more.

In this article, we’ll be looking at what you should do if you get an ice dam on your roof. Additionally, we’ll discuss some of the measures you can take to prevent this from happening in the first place.

If you’re interested in finding out more information, keep reading.

Tips for Roof Ice Dam Prevention

• Take Immediate ActionTo prevent ice dams, you need to control the heat loss from your home. If one has already formed on your roof, you need to take immediate action to sort out the problem. The first thing we suggest you do is remove all of the snow from the roof. This will eliminate the chance of the snow melting and forming a dam on the eaves of your building.Moving the snow as soon as you see it is one of the preventative measures you can take to avoid this issue altogether. You can use something called a roof rake along with a broom to get rid of any snow that is forming on the top of your home. Take caution when doing this. Its could damage some of the roofing materials that have been used on your roof. This could cause you a lot more issues than when you started.

• Evaluate the Snow LoadYour roof should have been designed to allow the structure to carry the expected snow load for your area. The preventative measures that you need to take in order to stop ice dams forming will mean that your roof has to carry more snow. You are going to need to look at your roof and decide whether it has the capacity to handle all of this snow. If it starts to cave at any point, this suggests there’s a structural issue with your roof that will need assessed as soon as possible.

• Maintain Roof VentilationOne of the biggest causes of ice dams is heat loss through the ceiling. This is what causes the snow on your roof to melt in the first place. It affords the opportunity for the snow to melt and form an ice dam on the eaves of your building.If you want to avoid this, then you should be taking precautions to keep uniform roof temperatures. Subsequently, this will minimize the risk of an ice dam forming. Something you can do is make sure your ceiling is airtight. As a result, this means warm air won’t escape from your home to the roof and melt the snow. Read more about the importance of roof ventilation.Once you have done this, you need to increase the insulation in the roof and the attic. Adding insulation will cut down on the amount of heat you’re losing through conduction. Find out more about attic insulation on our sister company’s blog.

• Check Your Attic InsulationThe depth of the insulation in your attic needs to be 12 to 14 inches of fiberglass or cellulose. Having this amount of insulation will be in line with the regulations set out in the building code. If you currently have less than 8 inches, you need to add more insulation to your attic. This is especially true if you’ve had issues with ice dams in the past.Fiberglass is one of the best materials you can use for insulation. It fills in the gaps a lot tighter than some of the other materials on the market right now. It’s recommended that this is the product you buy if you’re going to add more insulation to your attic.

We hope you found this article helpful and know what to do if you get an ice dam on your roof. As well as this, you should know some of the preventative measures you can take to try and avoid this problem altogether.

It’s worth hiring a professional to help you with roof ice dam prevention and maintenance. We can complete this job for you so you can be sure it has been done properly. In addition, you’ll have less chance of seeing ice dams next winter. However, if this isn’t possible, you should think about renting a blowing machine to help you get the job done. 

Call us at 877-644-6030! If calling us isn’t an option right now, go ahead and complete our contact form or send us an email at joe@aceconstructiononline.com.