While winter weather can create some beautiful scenery, it can also cause extensive and costly damage to your home, especially your gutters, if you’re not prepared. Sleet, ice storms and snow are some of the many different types of extreme winter weather conditions that we experience here in the Heartland. What’s one of the worst winter weather culprits that causes damage to your gutters? Ice dams.
What are Ice Dams?
Ice dams are thick pieces of ice that collect around the edges of sloped roofs. They form when heat produced from inside a house melts the accumulated snow on a roof. As a result, the meltwater has nowhere to drain to so it’s constantly refreezing and melting resulting in ice dams.
How do ice dams affect the rest of your gutter system? When the accumulated snow begins to melt, that meltwater runs off into gutters and roof slopes where it then freezes. This frozen meltwater makes it impossible for other melting ice and snow to drain properly, causing all sorts of issues for your entire gutter system.
Living in the Heartland where winter weather is unpredictable and temperatures often fluctuate, ice dams are a common issue. These fluctuating temperatures cause snow to melt and refreeze resulting in ice dams that form rapidly.
What Damage Can Ice Dams Cause?
If left alone all winter, ice dams can cause extensive and costly damage to your home. Ice dams can cause a whole slew of issues: damaged shingles, leaking roofs, reduced effectiveness of your home’s insulation, possible mold, etc.
Not only can ice dams cause damage to your home, but they can cause damage to your health too. Because ice dams can reduce the effectiveness of your home’s insulation, they can cause the temperature in your home to fluctuate, making your home cooler in the winter months. They can also cause dampness in your home which can cause a collection of bacteria and mold to accumulate, causing respiratory issues.
Ice that forms because of ice dams can also pose a risk to your health. They can become dislodged and extremely dangerous and can fall and cause serious injuries. Ice dams can weigh quite a bit, and can cause serious injuries if they fall on someone.
What can I do if I have Ice Dams?
Ice dams are a nuisance but luckily they can be removed. Follow the tips below to safely remove ice dams from your roof:
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- Heat cable near roof edges or inside gutters
- Safely use a roof rake to remove accumulated snow and ice
- Use a safe ice melt product that won’t damage your roof such as calcium chloride
- Contact a professional
Removing ice dams can be time consuming, damaging and tiring, which is why you should take every measure you can to prevent them from forming. The best thing you can do to remove ice dams is to contact a gutter company in Kansas City like K-Guard.
How can I Prevent Ice Dams?
Preventing ice dams is the best thing you can do to protect your home and the safety of your loved ones. Luckily, there are some measures you can take to prevent ice dams from forming on your roof: checking your home’s insulation and installing a K-Guard Gutter System.
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- Check your home’s insulation – air leaks can cause heat to escape from the inside of your home which causes accumulated snow to melt and form ice dams. Having your home checked for air leaks and insulation issues can help prevent ice melt on your roof. Having excessive heat loss from your roof can also cause icicles. If you have icicles you may want to contact an insulation company.
- Installing a K-Guard Gutter System will help to prevent ice dams from forming on your roof. Our gutter systems can withstand all winter weather conditions, including snow and ice storms and will help prevent ice buildup on roofs. If there is excessive heat loss coming from improper insulation we will recommend that it gets fixed as well.
To install a K-Guard Gutter System, contact K-Guard Heartland. Our team of experts will provide a free in-home estimate in a timely manner and will discuss the best option for your home. We offer a maintenance free, exclusion free warranty that is better than any gutter cover or add-on device.
Call (913) 380-1616 to schedule your free in-home estimate today! We look forward to helping you to prevent ice dams and costly damage to your home with our gutter cover installation service.
