Ice Dams

Icicles may be pretty but they can tear off gutters, loosen shingles, and cause water to back up into your house.

Icicles hanging along the eaves of your house may look beautiful, but they spell trouble. That’s because the same conditions that allow icicles to form—snow-covered roofs and freezing weather—also lead to ice dams: thick ridges of solid ice that build up along the eaves. Dams can tear off gutters, loosen shingles, and cause water to back up and pour into your house. When that happens, the results aren’t pretty: peeling paint, warped floors, stained and sagging ceilings. Not to mention soggy insulation in the attic, which loses R-value and becomes a magnet for mold and mildew.

Keep reading to learn more about how ice dams form so that you can prevent them altogether or make a quick fix if they’ve already formed.

Although we have a relatively mild winter in Oklahoma we do get periods of ice and freezing rain which can facilitate the forming of an ice dam. Do not trow salt of hack away at them with a hatchet as both can cause damage to your roof.  If your roof is particularly susceptible to getting ice dams because of the aspect of your roof call the team at TRS we can assist with roofing ventilation and even a heated solution to inhibit the formation of these damaging ice dams on your roof.