Removing Ice Dams From Your Roof: What You Need to Know

Do you have an ice dam problem at your home? Are you looking for the best methods to eliminate your ice dams? Let’s face it: ice damming is a pain in the neck.

The first part of removing ice dams is to prevent them from beginning.

Prevention is just as wise as they can cause significant damage to your home, including mold in areas you might not be able to see.

Ice barriers are a common problem in areas of the country where average snowfall occurs.

If you own a home with poor roof ventilation and a warm attic, you have probably been dealing with this problem for a while.

When ice obstructions are not treated effectively, they can lead to significant problems with your gutters, roof, insulation, drywall, paint, and home structure.

If not dealt with properly, ice damming can also result in mold infestations. In other words, you should do your best to remove any existing ice dams and prevent the future accumulation of ice in the long term.

I have dealt with ice dams on my own home on a few occassions. Unfortunately, from experience being a real estate agent many of my clients have dealt with ice damming problems.

Around ten years ago there were a rash of back to back winter storms in my area. It caused immesurable damage to many homes due to ice dams forming. Many people had water penetration in their homes. For those that were lucky they escaped mold problems.

Keep reading; you’ll find helpful details on preventing and removing ice dams!

Essential Facts and Statistics

1. Ice barriers are ridge-like ice formations forming along the edges of roofs.
2. They occur when snow on the roof melts and refreezes near the colder edges, creating a barrier for water runoff.
3. The blockage can cause water to back onto the roof, leading to leaks and potential damage to the interior of a building.
4. The weight can stress the structure of a roof, increasing the risk of collapse.
5. Proper insulation, ventilation, and snow removal from the roof can help prevent ice dams from forming.
6. Approximately 20% of homes in cold regions experience ice formation during winter.
7. Ice freezes can cause an average of $5,000 damage to affected properties.
8. Over 90% of ice barriers occur on the lower edge of sloping roofs.
9. On average, they weigh around 400 pounds per linear foot.
10. Studies show that heat loss from poorly insulated attics contributes to 70% of ice dam occurrences.

What is an Ice Dam?

An ice dam is a ridge of ice forming at the roof’s edge, preventing melting snow from draining.

It occurs when heat inside your home causes snow on the roof to melt.

The melted water flows down the roof until it reaches the colder eaves. The water refreezes once it reaches the eaves, forming an ice barrier. This barrier grows as more water freezes, eventually creating a dam.

The dam blocks further meltwater, forcing it to pool behind the ice. Trapped water can leak into the home, causing damage to walls, ceilings, insulation, and other interior areas.

They can also lead to gutter and shingle damage. They are more common in colder climates and can be prevented by proper insulation and ventilation of the attic.

I had leakage through my skylights due to damming along a higher roof location gutter ridge. Luckily, the buildup was insignificant, and I could remove it myself.

The ice dam damage was localized in this one area. There was a bit of surface mildew, which was easily cleaned.

What Causes Ice Dams?

Before learning how to fix them, you must know the causes. Ice damming is created after a heavy snowfall when the attic’s warmth creates a roof surface that rises above freezing.

Heavy snow is an insulator, trapping this heat and causing the snow closest to the roof to melt. This water then flows down the roof, where it freezes again as soon as it goes beyond the warm part of the ceiling.

Usually, this is the last section of the roof, closest to the gutters and beyond the house’s walls. Look at the numerous diagrams of how an ice dam forms on your roof in this Google search. The damming will continue to accumulate until it starts to impact the interior of your house.

Understanding how ice barriers form can help you prevent them from happening in the first place. It is a multi-step process that occurs as follows:

1. Heat Escapes From Inside: Heat from the home escapes into the attic, warming the roof.
2. Snow Melts: The warmth causes snow on the roof to melt despite cold outdoor temperatures.
3. Water Flows to Eaves: The melted water flows down the roof slope to the colder eaves.
4. Refreezing at Eaves: At the eaves, which are not warmed by the attic, the water refreezes.
5. Ice Dam Formation: This cycle repeats, with ice building up and forming a dam at the eaves.
6. Pooling Water: Melted water from above pools behind the dam cannot drain.
7. Water Seepage: The pooled water can seep under roof shingles and through the roof deck.
8. Interior Damage: Water leaking into the home damages ceilings, walls, insulation, and interiors.

The process highlights the importance of attic insulation and ventilation to prevent heat escape and reduce risks.

Damage From Ice Damming

The accumulation of ice can cause a myriad of problems. The most obvious is weight; as the ice gets heavier, it can pull off gutters and cause structural damage to the roof edge.

But this is not the end of the destruction. If the damage from ice forming were isolated to your home’s exterior, you would be getting lucky.

As the name suggests, ice dams form into dams along the edge of the room. As the water above melts and flows down, it eventually rises to the roof’s warmer section behind the dam.

This standing water will find its way through the shingles and the roof’s underlayers, eventually entering the building.

The water from behind the obstruction can wreak havoc inside the home. It can ruin insulation as it saturates the material, causing it to perform no longer. It can also lead to mold growth in your home and eventually cause your paint to peel or blister as the moisture attempts to exit.

The worst part of it is, most of the time, you do not notice the water intrusion until long after the damage has occurred. All you see is a mound of snow on the edge of your roof and beautiful icicles hanging from your iced-over gutters.

While your initial thought might be that the icicles look amazing, removing them should be your priority. Unless you don’t mind the idea of potential damage inside and outside your home!

What to Know About Ice Dam Prevention

Ideally, you want to avoid them from ever forming in the first place. To do this, you must tackle the problem at its source – your attic and roof.

You want to create a situation where the roof always remains close to the outside temperature, requiring removing heat sources within the attic and creating sufficient ventilation through the attic and roof.

You can complete a home energy audit to determine your attic’s weak areas.

Soffit-and-Ridge Ventilation System

The best type of ventilation to prevent ice dams is a continuous soffit-and-ridge vent system. When installed with baffles along the roof’s lower edge, this can create the necessary ventilation to maintain the roof temperature.

Soffit ventilation allows air from outside along the roof’s bottom edge, which cycles through the baffles and exits the roof ridge at the building’s peak. This cold air keeps the roof surface cool, preventing melting.

The best roofing contractor will also install several feet of an ice and water shield product to help guard against water damage.

If you know your home does not have this product, it may help to have a roofing contractor take up the first four feet of roofing in your worst problem areas and install the ice and water shield product.

It is also vital to ensure that roof vents are not blocked. You need proper air flow for them to work. I constantly see this issue when attending home inspections. The soffit vents are often stuffed with insulation, preventing them from doing their job.

Eliminating Attic Heat Sources Helps Prevent The Problem

Creating ventilation is just the first step. You must also remove all heat sources that generate heat in the attic. There are some areas to check in this regard, including:

Proper Attic Insulation

The attic floor needs proper insulation to keep the lower floors’ heat from exiting through the ceiling. The Insulation Institute has an insulation calculator to determine what insulation you should use based on your zip code. Use this calculator and install the suggested insulation.

If unsure, going with the highest R-value would be the best choice. It is better to be over-insulated than under-insulated. This calculator is an excellent tool as it can give you a reasonable estimate of what you need based on a few factors, including your heat source and whether the home is new.

Insulate Recessed Ceiling Lights

If recessed ceiling lights are installed on the lower floor’s roof, they must be insulated. These lights can produce a surprising amount of heat, contributing to the ice dam problem.

Address Folding Stair Openings

The stairs you pull down to enter your attic must also be insulated. Some excellent options provide an insulated cover that can be put at the base of the top of the stairs opening.

An insulation cover will protect much of the heat from entering the attic. This, of course, will also allow you to save on your home’s energy bill. A nice side benefit when trying to prevent ice damming!

Cap an Attic Fan

If your home has an attic fan, this is a considerable area where heat can escape into the attic. Make sure you purchase an insulated cap for this as well.

Bathroom Vent Fans

Any bathroom vent fans installed on the floor below should not vent directly into the attic. Sometimes, people cut corners and do this, but if this is the case in your home, you should have a contractor address the issue.

These vent fans can pour a lot of heat into the attic.

Check The Heating System

Some homes can sometimes have heating equipment in the attic. These things naturally produce a lot of heat, which you don’t want in the attic. Have a contractor review the heating equipment and provide a solution for your attic.

Address The Ductwork

Any ductwork flowing through the attic needs to be adequately insulated.

Miscellaneous

Plugging gaps around plumbing vents, wiring, recessed lights, and chimneys also can prevent warm air from escaping into the attic. Doing these little things is an excellent way to help prevent ice damming.

Keeping Your Gutters Clean is an Excellent Preventative Measure

Keeping gutters clean is something every homeowner needs to stay on top of. Although cleaning out the gutters can be unpleasant, especially if many leaves have been allowed to accumulate and rot, cleaning is still necessary to prevent roof problems.

Ice dams will have a more challenging time forming if water flows from the house and down the gutter as intended. Cleaning out the gutters has the added benefit of preventing damaged gutters when a freeze comes, as accumulated debris that is wet will freeze. The debris can become thick enough to rip off the gutters.

If you sell a home in the winter, keeping up with your gutters’ maintenance becomes even more paramount.

This is one of my top tips for selling a home in the winter. The last thing you want is to have your home become the victim of an ice dam issue right in the middle of the selling process.

Getting Rid Of Existing Ice Dams

You can do two things to eliminate an existing ice dam or ones that continue to form.

Use Ice Melt Products to Eliminate Them

There are some ice melt products that you can spread over the ice. Most contain calcium chloride, which can safely and reliably melt ice on your roof.

Be careful when applying the product; ice is slippery and will only increase as it melts.

Do not use salt, which can damage your roof’s shingles and gutters.

Most standard high-performance ice-melting products, such as calcium chloride or magnesium chloride, will melt the ice. Still, they may also cause staining of the shingles and cause corrosion of the gutters.

Salt will leave a white residue and is very corrosive to metals so that you might turn your black roof edge into a chalky mess with salt.

Wooden gutters will be adversely affected by nearly all chloride deicers, so they are not recommended.

Use a Roof Rake

When you get heavy snow, quickly head outside and use a roof rake to remove the snow from the roof’s edge.

Removing the bottom four feet of snow can usually prevent ice accumulation.

Avoid Other, More Dangerous Removal Methods

As tempting as it can be to hit the ice with a hammer, a blow torch, or an ice pick, do not do this. You are more likely to hurt yourself than the ice.

Sometimes, removing ice obstructions on roofs is a job that is best left to professionals. You should be able to find a local contractor who will provide removal services.

Don’t plan on this being cheap, though. When an area is hit hard by a brutal winter, removal can become a service in high demand.

Here in Massachusetts, brutal winters are commonplace. It is not unusual for homeowners to have difficulty staying on top of snow removal.

Not staying on top of snow accumulation has caused thousands of homes across the state to be plagued by these issues.

Here in my real estate office, I have personally seen offers to remove snow and ice from roofs coming to the tune of thousands of dollars. While removing them is hard work, quite a few companies are making a killing!

In harsh winters, removing ice from roofs can be big business.

Filing an Ice Dam Insurance Claim

So what happens when you find that your home has become the victim of an awful ice dam problem?

Your first thought will probably be whether or not your home’s insurance policy will cover it. This, unfortunately, is not a yes or no answer.

It will depend on many things, including what is written in your policy. However, there is a decent chance that your home insurance will cover the damage created by a problem.

Most insurance policies provide coverage on an “all perils basis,” meaning all losses are covered unless expressly excluded. Most often, ice dam problems are not excluded.

If your roof is old and already needs replacement, there is a chance your claim could be denied. The theory is that the roof’s age was a contributing factor in why the ice dam was able to cause damage to the interior of the home.

You may have damaged shingles on the outside and all sorts of issues on the inside, from ruined insulation, damaged wallboard, paint, and, in some instances, damaged flooring.

Besides the apparent damage, you can see the threat exists that you could also grow mold in places you can’t see.

When you file a claim, the insurance adjuster will assess the damage. The adjuster will then report back to your insurance company with an estimated cost to repair the damage.

Your insurance provider will usually issue you a check minus the deductible to repair the damages caused by the ice damming.

Video on How to Prevent Ice Dams

Watch the video by This Old House that explains how to prevent ice dams by insulating and ventilating your attic properly. The prevention can often be rectified by looking over your attic carefully. Seal up any potential areas where you find drafts.

Make sure you add additional insulation where necessary. If you take the proper steps, you can quickly minimize your chances of ice dams forming.

Without a doubt, having these obstructions is not a pleasant experience. All the above tips will minimize your chances of getting a problem you don’t need!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the best method of preventing ice dams?

Stopping the formations is not that difficult. The prevention of ice dams starts with keeping the roof at the same temperature as the eaves. This can be accomplished by adding insulation, increasing ventilation, and sealing all air leaks from the outside.

2. What’s the number one cause of ice dams on roofs?

The most common way ice damming occurs is when there is heat loss from the house combined with snow coverage and low outside temperatures. Snow eventually melts, and when it does, it travels down the roof and reaches the portion below freezing. The freezing temperature then causes the formation.

3. Do gutters create ice dams?

No. Gutters do not create ice dams. A gutter system, however, will contribute to concentrating ice and water in an area at the edge of your roof.

4. Can you melt ice dams on your roof?

Yes. The easiest way to help melt them is by running hot water over the area where they appear. Heat cables can also help prevent barriers from forming and melt them if they have not been turned on before a storm.

5. Can you put ice melt products on your roof?

Yes and no. You should not put ice-melting products directly on your roof as it will damage the shingles. You can, however, put ice melt products in socks and place them on the formation. This will help the melting process happen quicker.

6. Do snow guards cause problems?

No, they do not.

7. Do metal roofs have problems?

Yes, they do. The same issues that cause icing barriers will also plague other roof types.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, roof ice damming issues can wreak significant havoc on your home. The key is preventing ice problems from starting to form. Hopefully, you have found this guide to preventing and removing them applicable.

About the Author: Bill Gassett, a nationally recognized leader in his field, provided information on preventing and removing ice dams. He is an expert in mortgages, financing, moving, home improvement, and general real estate.

Learn more about Bill Gassett and the publications he has been featured in. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest towns for the last 38+ years.

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