# Ice Damming solutions



## Gutter_Supply (Apr 2, 2013)

Ice Damming solutions - anyone? What's your solution.


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## shazapple (Dec 3, 2010)

Design /construction: Proper ventilation and insulation, and ice and water shield
Maintenance: use a snow rake to prevent ice dams, use a sock full of ice melt/salt to melt a channel through existing ice dams.


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## Gutter_Supply (Apr 2, 2013)

Thank you!


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## [email protected] (Aug 13, 2014)

*Heres something to consider....*

First you have to understand how ice damming forms. Its pretty simple once broken down.

*poor insulation. If you are under 18.5'' of insulation (R50) you are under insulated. Heat rises, so when you crank your heat in the winter time, theres a really good chance you are loosing that heat to the attic. Snow builds up on your roof, no matter what the pitch of your roof is, if its a smaller pitch, 6/12, inevitably you're going to have more snow build up quicker. The heat that is rising and escaping into your attic due to poor insulation, ultimately melts that snow. This melting snow channels downwards, catching on your eavestrough system, hardening, causing not only icicles, but whats commonly known as ice damming. It will melt, and harden, over, and over. In some cases backing up under the shingles, rotting the decking of your eave. My company uses 3', 44mm Owens Corning Weatherlock Flex, and 3' of Weatherlock G Ice&water, to protect against those elements. Here in Canada, the weather can get pretty hot in the summer, and down right nasty in the winter. 

There are many things to take into consideration when it comes to ice damming, but the first step is taking care of your insulation issue. You want to KEEP that heat in your house where it belongs, and keep a cold consistent attic space. 

On the other hand, the complete opposite in the summer time, you want to make sure you have atleast 1 vent per/250 sq/ft of roof. Though that does depend on the building codes from city to city, i think that is about standard. Also, having a proper roofing system in general prolongs the life expectancy of your roof. Perforated soffits are key for intaking air, and cycling it out the dual baffle air vents on the highest point of your roof. Intake air from the bottom, moore vents to force the cold up upwards, cycling out the vents. A roof isnt just a roof, it is a system that alot of us have mastered and swear by!

Best of luck :thumbup:

Kyle Reichstein 
AM Roofing Solutions Consultant 
London, Ontario


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## dougger222 (Aug 13, 2010)

We learned a little more about ice dams last Winter. Prior to last Winter we did ice dam steaming on 30 roofs the Winter prior which had us on our first roof Dec 10th and our last roof March 30th. We got our first ice dam leak call 2 days after it snowed! 4 Winters ago our first ice dam steam Winter we did 50 jobs in less than a month then everything melted. 

Last Winter started the year with a partner and 3 machines and ended solo with 5 machines. The season was about 2 months with work every day. At the peak had 2 snow only crews and 3 steam crews. 

We steamed several leaky ice dams with homes with heat cables on the roof and snow rakes in the yard. More often than not if the home owner raked part of the roof and left snow above were they raked ice formed at the stop start point. One home had 3 separate ice dams on it! 

After breaking away from my old partner who didn't want to take any risks by buying more machines and training in new people ended up doing just over 100 steam jobs and another 2-3 dozen snow only jobs.

Of course ventilation and insulation is key to prevent ice dams but we found in the past couple Winters that newer homes with ample ventilation and insulation were also victims of ice dams due to in ground downspouts. We've steamed 100 year old homes and 1 year old homes.


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## warm stuff (Sep 24, 2015)

We use a variety of electric deicing systems, including a couple that are designed to go under the roofing material. Just watch the listings and make sure they are okayed for your application. There are a lot of products out there that aren't tested for roofs.


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## Merge (Oct 22, 2015)

Thank you guys!!!!


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