Ice dams form when warm air from inside your home melts snow on the roof.
Ice sickles on roof.
Water stained ceilings dislodged roof shingles sagging gutters peeling paint and damaged plaster all are the familiar results of ice dams.
Be careful if you need to use a ladder.
Follow these tips to make the process easier and safer.
Tap small icicles off your roo f before they have a chance to get bigger.
The resulting water will run down the roof and re freeze at the eaves or gutters when the outside air is below 32 degrees fahrenheit.
Small icicles along the edge of your roof.
Ice dams form along the roof s edge usually above the overhang.
This can cause one of two problems 1 icicles 2 ice dams.
An ice dam is caused by a buildup of ice in your gutters.
Gently does it when dislodging large icicles.
You can keep those baby ice dams from getting bigger or you can let them grow into big n hairy ice dams that may cause leaking and heartache.
When it comes to icicles on gutters the warm air causes the underside of the roof to warm up and can thaw snow and ice.
As the temperature fluctuates the snow on your roof melts sending water down to the gutters.
And never stand directly beneath an ice formation use a wooden stick to.
Icicles have to attach somewhere on your roof which means there s more ice up there.
Your response to those little icicles should be to break out your fancy new roof rake and remove the snow from your roof.
So icicles hanging from a roof s edge may be a sign of an ice dam.
When the meltwater reaches the colder eaves the part of the roof that extends beyond the walls the water refreezes and creates a buildup of ice along the edge of your roofline says this old house.