DRG's Inagural Blog Post: Ice Dams

  The DeRienzo Resource Group Inc has created this weekly blog to keep our client's and followers up to date with hot topics surrounding the construction, home remodeling, and property management world. During the past few weeks we have received numerous calls about leaks caused by ice damming.

What are Ice Dams?
Ice dams are a ridge of ice that forms on the edge of the roof line that prevents the flow of water down into the gutters. 

Ice dams are caused from the culmination of several different factors:
Heat loss from the attic is the primary culprit.  Heat loss is caused by poor attic insulation or under insulation (to small of an R-Rating in the insulation)  This poor insulation causes heat to escape from your home melting snow on your roof.  The water from the melted snow now flows down the roof over the roof eave and is exposed to cold air.  This is the same concept as bridges and overpasses icing before the road does.  This occurs because of cold air exposed on the underside of the the eave and gutters creating a supercooled surface and thus freezing the melting water and rapidly accumulating ice forming a dam. Other examples of heat loss attributing to ice dams are chimneys, exhaust fans, and solar radiation.  A great illustration of why heat loss is the number one component of ice damming is to look at your shed in the back yard.  Your shed is most likely cold (unheated).  You should see no melting water on the shed roof or icicles.  This is because no heat is coming through the roof to melt snow.

How to Spot Ice Dams

The best way to spot the early stages of an ice dam are to observe your roof after snow has accumulated.  Observe if any snow is melting on the roof irregularly.  You may see a few spots that have melted down to the shingles, this is an example of heat loss from your attic and improper insulation.  Another way to spot ice damming is if you have icicles on your roof line. This means a build up of melting water is spilling over your gutters and ice damming is most likely occurring or has occurred at this point.

Prevention

1) The number one way to prevent ice damming is to properly insulate and ventilate your attic.  This will prevent 99% of ice damming.
2) Shovel the edge of your roof line.  This will help prevent the buildup of ice from melting water.  The safest way to do this is with a roof rake, we advise against getting up on your roof and shovel.
3) Install heating wire on your roof line and in your gutters to melt any ice build up.

We hope you enjoyed this blog and learned something new.

Seth Baldelli
DRG Inc
Licensed Construction Supervisor