How to Resolve Ice Dams Quickly

Ice dams are caused by warm moist air from the main living area of the home rising into the attic and getting trapped inside it. The warm moist air heats up the underside of the roof sheathing, which in turn causes the snow to melt on the roof.

As the snow melts, the water drips down toward the roof edges where it then refreezes. Over just a couple of days the refreezing snow melt forms the ice ridges, known as ice dams. The ice dams prevent additional snow melt to drip off the roof, and as a result cause the ice dams to grow in size. And that’s just the beginning of the problems. As the water backs up underneath the roof shingles it inevitably works its way into cracks in the roof sheathing, where then it begins to drip into the attic.

From there, drywall ceilings become soaked and damaged, and mold and mildew growth begin to form in the attic. However, the water damage doesn’t stop in the attic. Often the water finds its way further down into the home, and sometimes between wall paint and drywall causing large water bubbles to form that eventually burst. Also, when the temperatures drops the water underneath the shingles freezes up causing the shingles to buckle and become potentially permanently damaged.

The best long term solution for preventing ice dams is to ensure that your attic is well insulated so that no warm air from the lower living areas of the home make it up into it. Secondly, it is critical that the attic have sufficient and unblocked ventilation. Ventilation should include soffit vents near the roof eaves as well as a ridge vent or gable vents near the top of the roof. The ventilation ensures that any warm air that does enter the attic is quickly dissipated from it before it can cause any roof snow melt. If you do see ice dams forming on your home’s roof edges then one quick solution for preventing water issues is to place ice melt socks on the roof edges. Ice melt socks are simple to make. Simply pour a couple of pounds of ice melt into lengths of nylon stockings. Then tie off the stockings.

Next place an ice melt sock every four to six feet along the roof edge, on top of the ice dam ridges, making sure to place them perpendicular to the roof edge. In just a few hours they will begin to melt channels into the ice dam ridges so that additional roof snow melt can drain off the roof. See my video on how to make ice melt socks.

When the warm weather returns resolve your attic’s insulation and ventilation shortcomings to prevent ice dams from forming the following winter.