Ice Damns?
 

I got a problem with ice like many right now. Gutters are iced up and the ice is damned up on the roof by a couple of feet. It sprung a leak. Any suggestions on how to remove the ice buildup? I shoveled the snow and as much ice as i could get off without damaging the roof. I thought about dumping a ton of rock salt on it but dont know if it is a good idea.

I had the same problem before installing a new roof -- I stopped the flood by buying gutter heater wires and laying them on top of the ice dam and over the gutter. They melted through and allowed the water to have a channel to run off.
The first day that allowed me to install them in the gutter and on the roof properly ended my problem. The only real cure is to install ice shield under the shingles and that opion will not be available untill you replace the roof.

Rock salt will melt the ice, but the melted salt water will back up into the house.

I spent the better part of last Saturday helping my brother with the same problem.
We used hammers and the widest chisel we had and beat the crap out of it and took it off a chunk at a time. A lot of work but it stopped the water that was ruining his ceilings.

this weekend
 

it'll be 45 degrees -
so much melting should occur http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...YS/lil-guy.png

Rob,

This is the second season I've had the ice dam backup problems. Last year, the roof was old and needed replacing so we had the roof done and 9 feet of ice/water shield installed. This year, same problem. Roofer came over and we climbed the roof. Shoveled and he showed me the ice problem. There was so much ice in the gutters, it backed up 16 feet and started the water damage again

Anyway....after shoveling, I started dumping Calcium Chloride in the gutter to get that under control. If the ice has nowhere to go, it will backup (so i'm told) After about a day of dumping calcium chloride (supposed to be safer than rock salt) I had some good drains going. Removed the downspouts as they were a bit iced up and I could care less where the water drained to. Then I started spraying the roof with calcium chloride, less quantity than the gutters, and got that under control. So far, it looks like I'm doing alright now but time will tell.

As my roofer said, we've had a bad winter here in northern Worc. cty. Between the ice storm that devastated us for weeks, the constant snow and another smaller ice storm, there was just no place for the stuff to go and no meltdown like we usually get in January. Hopefully, this weekend will melt this junk away so we can start from scratch.

I guess my suggestion would be to use calcium chloride in the gutters to get that stuff out of there. I also chipped away VERY CAREFULLY when the ice started breaking up (almost immediately) to get some of that out of there.

Hope this helps! We're all in this together ;)

Gone Fishin'.....how fast did the gutter melt wires take to melt down? I was thinking about the same thing but thought the length of time might be a bit too much. Thanks!

I think i will get the calcium cloride and put it on tomorrow afternoon, and break that crap up and get it out of there. And the gutter wires sound good. The gutters arent very long so they should work good. Thanks for the help guys.

Sounds like you guys have an insulation problem also.

the problem has been a NO thawing out between storms...at all.

i have water leaking in in two places from ice damming..it sucks!!

some of you guys from Mass might know what a deck house is- I live in one.. the roof overhangs the outer walls of the house by 3 feet... as a result- huge ice dams. :wall:

I used to crack the ice dam with the backside of my axe and throw a lot of rocksalt up higher than the dam. A torrent of melt water would run out. This is the first year for my new roof, I have ice dams but no leaks....so far.

BT - the wires took the better part of a day, but they saved me a pile of chipping.

Working with firefighters for a while made my completely paranoid of any electrically powered heating elements. Big heating blankets, space heaters and the like are never allowed in my house.

Putting those wires on my roof would never sit right with me.