How to Protect Your Home From an Ice Dam

While an ice dam is a threat to your home all winter long, the risk of one forming on your roof and gutters is especially high when temperatures are at or just below freezing and there’s been a heavy snow. With those two conditions in place, an ice dam is likely to develop in the following way:

1. Heat from the sun or from inside your home warms your roof.
2. The layers of snow and ice melt.
3. Water flows from the melted snow and ice down your roof.
4. The water refreezes when it reaches the colder roof edge, beginning the ice dam formation.

This process can happen quickly—sometimes in less than 24 hours. If an ice dam is not immediately addressed, the situation can get worse just as fast. Whether the icy structure is small and harmless looking or has expanded to a monstrous 1,000-pound mound, it may obstruct further snowmelt and ice melt from draining away from your home and cause water to back up under your roof and leak inside. If this happens, it could lead to extensive damage to your roof, gutters, ceilings, walls, insulation, floors, and more. In fact, ice dams and other types of severe winter weather end up costing homeowners billions of dollars in property damage every year.

To avoid the hassle and costs of dealing with an ice dam, you may want to try to stop this menace from forming in the first place by using these four strategies:

• Adding insulation to your attic. Make sure your attic is sufficiently insulated so that warm air does not escape through the roof and cause the snow on top of your home to melt. A well-insulated attic helps keep heat inside your home where it belongs.
• Improving ventilation under your roof. Pair a ridge vent with continuous soffit vents to circulate cold air under the entire roof and flush out warmer attic air. A cooler roof reduces the possibility of an ice dam forming.
• Installing an ice shield. Hire a professional to add this roofing material along the edges of your roof and under shingles. This helps create a barrier that redirects water away from vulnerable spots, reducing the likelihood that an ice dam will form and that leaks will occur.
• Raking as much snow off your roof as possible. Stand on the ground and use an expandable roof rake to remove snow from the overhangs and valleys of your roof, and a couple of feet above those areas if you can do so safely. Even if you do not clear all the snow from your roof, there will be less up there that can melt and refreeze into ice.

Although you may take all the proper ice dam prevention steps, an ice dam may still end up forming. If this happens, it’s critical that you hire a licensed, insured professional to handle the ice dam removal. They will use specialized equipment and techniques to safely remove an ice dam, usually without harming your roof or other parts of your home. If you uncover issues inside or outside your home directly resulting from an ice dam, please reach out to your local, independent insurance agent, who will guide and support you through the claims process.

An ice dam is just one of the many winter hazards that can do damage to your home and belongings. To get more insights on protecting your valuable property from other seasonal threats, please check out our blog. There, you will find informational articles on how to prevent pipes from freezing, safely use a wood-burning stove, and more.