Do you have ice dams?

You can help prevent serious damage to both the roof and inside of your home by minimizing the likelihood that an ice dam will develop, and by removing one as soon as you spot it. Ice dams can form when water from melting snow re-freezes at the edge of your roofline. Without roof snow removal, an ice dam may grow large enough to prevent water from draining off the roof. This water can then back up underneath roof shingles and make its way into your home. 

  

How Do You Know if You Have an Ice Dam?

• Look carefully at the icicles around the exterior of your house. If they are confined to the gutters and there is no water trapped behind them, then an ice dam has likely not formed. Nonetheless, icicles can pose a danger to people when they fall off, so try to safely knock them down while standing on the ground, making sure not to stand directly beneath them. If you cannot safely reach them from the ground, consider hiring a contractor to help.
• Check for water stains or moisture in the attic or around the tops of exterior walls on the top floor of your house. Stains and moisture may indicate that an ice dam has formed and water has penetrated the roof membrane.

  

How to Remove an Ice Dam:

• Melt the ice dam. Fill a nylon stocking with calcium chloride ice melt, and place it vertically across the ice dam so that it melts a channel through the dam. If you try this, make sure you can safely position the ice melt on your roof, and make sure to use calcium chloride, not rock salt. Rock salt will damage your roof. Also, be aware that shrubbery and plants near the gutters or downspouts may be damaged.
• Get professional help. If you cannot safely reach the roof, avoid using a ladder in snowy and icy conditions. Consider hiring a contractor to remove the ice dam.

I you need the help of a contractor, we recommend Mike Dhembe, he can be reached at http://www.mdhembeschimneysweep.com/ and 508-765-9600.  

If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call. 

Clean Your Gutters!

Here’s some advice from Ed Nowack, president of JEES in Charlton, MA.

With the onset of winter and below-freezing temperatures, one area of trouble that homeowners often overlook is gutters. If a gutter is not cleaned properly and becomes plugged by leaves and pine needles, any water that remains in the gutters can freeze. The weight of the ice in the gutters can caused the gutters to pull away from the exterior of the house causing damage to both the gutters and the exterior of the house. Any perforations in the home’s exterior can then allow precipitation to enter the home. The end result can be water damage and possibly associated mold contamination inside the exterior wall. 

The other issued with plugged gutters and the ice build-up is ice dam damage. When the gutters are filled with ice, snowfall can more readily build-up on the edge of the roof. Any snow melt on the edge of the roof tends to “dam-up” when the water hits the full gutters instead of travelling down the gutter and away from the home. With several freeze/thaw cycles, this can cause ice dams to form on the roof. The weight of the ice can cause damage to the shingles, attic sheathing and ice shield membrane. This damage will allow water to enter the attic space once the ice dam melts causing water damage and the likely formation of mold growth.

Be proactive and have your gutters cleaned prior to the start of December and/or the first snow fall.