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Winterize Your Home and Prevent Ice Dams by De-icing Your Gutters by Gutterpro
Everyone who lives in a colder winter climate is familiar with icicles – their idyllic appearance – and the charming way they’ve become synonymous with winter. No winter scene feels truly complete without them, depending on how sentimental you are. But ice dams – what are those?
Gutter ice dams are ridges that form at the eaves or overhang of the roof. As they grow, they block water from running off the roof, through the gutter, down the downspout and away from your home. The result is water redirected under the shingles of your roof, where it inevitably will seek exposures, causing water damage to walls, ceilings and insulation.
What causes gutter ice dams?
The biggest cause of these dams is poorly insulated ceilings and attic spaces. Think of a frying pan with an open flame underneath it. As the heat rises to meet the pan’s underside, it travels through it and up into the air by convection. Likewise, a poorly insulated home has the same effect. Heat from the house travels through the ceilings, then through cracks in the insulation and ultimately transfers through the roof, where snow loads melt and drip to the gutters, forming the dams.
Other perpetrators in the formation of gutter ice dams are chimneys, space heaters, radiators, exhaust systems (bathroom, kitchen) and wood burning stoves.
Winterizing your home before the first snowfall is a great defense against gutter ice dams. You can: