dealing with ice dams?

[mtemm]

I realized the other day that we have an ice dam along one section of my roof. not a huge section, but obviously we want to do something about it before it becomes an issue. so we did some googling and talked to some friends who have the same issue and dug out my old stash of pantyhose and started filling legs with calcium chloride and laying them vertically across it. I've done a few so far and will do more today, seems to be making the channels which is good.

what I am unclear about is if we should be raking our roof prior to doing this? we have a few inches of snow still on the roof. should we rake or leave it alone? not a lot of melt happening naturally prior to the storm on Thursday so mother nature isn't going to be much of a help unfortunately.

 

[KAMLEM]

We had ice dams really bad one year, our kitchen ceiling and wall were ruined. Since then whenever it snows we rake the roof. Luckily it's the back of the house and we have a deck so it's easier to reach.

 

[mtemm]

yeah, we had them a couple of years back in that same spot. it was that horrible winter where snow just kept piling up. we've had a lot of snow and cold this year, but melt in between so I hadn't thought about it at all. Its nothing like that no good very bad year!

thankfully its in a lower spot and easily reachable. dh just raked it and we put the hose back in place. looks lovely...glad its the back of the house! lol. now fingers crossed it all works and we make it through this winter without any damage. c'mon spring!

 

[MerMom60_94]

I had read that I should do this but my question is, how do I get these up onto the roof? My DH died a couple of months ago and it is now just me and my 19 year old DD. We have been fending pretty good for ourselves but this is something I haven't quite figured out and I am afraid of ice dams forming. That is one headache I just don't need this winter. I am hesitant to climb a ladder that is set on an icy ground. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

 

[mtemm]

do you have dams currently? can you hire someone? honestly If your roof is high or you are unsure, I would go that route if possible. or if you have a handy/helpful neighbor they might be able to help you out.

we have several levels of roof. at the highest, it is 3 stories up (2 story house, but a sloped yard). the roof I am dealing with dam wise is 1 story up, its the garage roof and I can access it both outside my bedroom window (its just below it) and then from the patio on a ladder. my patio isn't shoveled, its all snow, ladder seems to fit in rather firmly on it, so for the ones I did below I just climbed up and sort of gently flung them into position. for the ones I did out my bedroom window I tried to toss into position then sort of shifted them a bit with a mop handle.

there were definitely a few lucy ricardo moments for me, but it wasn't high so I wasn't worried. I am just not sure how many I should place. I have about 4 or 5 in good positions, but again its not that long a roof where the problem is. they are spaced a couple of feet apart. one looks like 3 feet or so, I might try to do one more there?

 

[LindaG4458]

We used to have ice dam problems when we lived in NH and MA. DH came up with two different solutions for a long-term fix:

1. Two feet of aluminum flashing installed along the lowest edge of the roof. Snow slides off. (Be careful about over your doors.)

2. Heating cables installed in a zig-zag pattern along the edge of the roof. Turn them on when the snow starts; turn them off after the ice dam danger is over. They allow the melted snow to drip off the edge of the roof and not back up under the shingles.

DH recommends #2 as his preferred solution.

Good luck -- it is a pain to deal with.