How Home Remedies For Ice Removal Can Damage Your Gutters

Those living in colder climates can attest to the incredible snow and ice buildup that occurs every year. Winter can be an uphill struggle fighting ice dams and icicle formation. If you have found yourself with a miniature iceberg capping your home, it is time to remove the ice.

Why Not Let The Ice Melt?

It may seem easiest to let the ice melt, but snow and ice pileup can buckle rooftops and cause shingle damage. Buildings with flat roof surfaces are susceptible to cave-ins. Snow can also melt and refreeze, filling up drainage holes and blocking ditches.

Ice dams, which are ice formations that block water flow, can be extremely damaging. They appear most often on roofs and within gutters. Icicles forming underneath gutters are usually a sure sign that the gutters are completely filled.

​On days when the temperature hovers just below freezing, the sun can continually melt and re-freeze the ice until the icicles reach the ground. This extra weight can tear off the gutters and cause damage to your home’s exterior.

Removing the Ice Yourself

Some older methods of ice removal could permanently damage your gutters, your shingles, your home’s water barrier, or all three. The following strategies should be avoided:

• Removing the gutter completely and letting the ice melt. Removing gutters, especially from layers of ice, can easily cause damage to the gutter fastenings and the roof. When the snow melts, the water seeps down the side of the house, potentially causing basement flooding and water damage.
• Using ice melts. Calcium and sodium chloride salts are corrosive and will erode your shingles, nails, and other building materials.
• Spraying ice with hot water to attempt to melt it. Most of the time this method results in simply adding more ice to the gutters.
• Breaking up an ice dam with a heavy object. This method has a high risk of injury. The roof and ground is slippery, so using a traditional ladder is unsafe, as is walking on the roof’s edge.

Thankfully, there are three safe and effective ways to remove ice, or at least prevent the ice dam from getting too large:

• Properly ventilate your attic. Homes with at least 1 square foot of vent for every 150 square feet of attic floor will keep the attic at a higher temperature, preventing uneven snow melting on the roof. Putting a space heater in your attic can help, but be sure to eliminate any fire hazards and turn off the heater occasionally.
• Install snow stop guards. If you have metal paneled roofing, consider using snow stops to prevent avalanches, cave-ins, and large ice buildup. Snow stop guards are ridges in the metal that isolates snow, prevents it from sliding toward the gutters, and allows it to melt in sections.hub
• Buy a safety ladder and remove snow. Ladders with slip-resistance have extra traction to increase friction on slippery surfaces like snow and ice. From a safe ladder, you can clean the snow from the shingles to prevent further ice formation, but do not chop at the ice.

Calling the Professionals

If you haven’t had any luck removing the ice yourself, let Colorado Seamless Gutters help! We have ice-removal methods, like a specialty steamer, and decades of experience giving customers quality gutter service. Contact us today!