Icicles – Beautiful or Harmful?
Growing up in California, icicles were just a winter novelty I would read in books during the holidays. Who knew they were actually a thing!!! The first time I saw real live icicles I thought they were so magical and beautiful. Little did I know they can actually be harmful to your home.
How Do Ice Dams Form?
First let’s start with the nitty gritty. How do icicles form? Icicles are formed from an ice dam that sits at the edge of your roof and prevents the melted snow from draining off. The ice builds up when the upper part of your roof is warmer and melts the snow. It then turns to water and will re-freeze once it hits the colder part of your roof at the eaves.
What causes the snow to melt you ask? A sunny day can provide a sufficient amount of heat to melt some snow off your roof. But the main contributor is heat loss from the inside of your home. Who knew!
How Are They Harmful?
Ice dams can cause water to leak from the roof to the inside of the building. This can lead to deterioration of the roof sheathing, interior walls, building framing, and also wet insulation that is no longer effective. In addition, anytime you have moisture intrusion into your home you can get mold growth which can cause respiratory illness or effect your allergies and asthma. Basically, water in your home is not good!
How Do You Prevent Them?
Simply, you can prevent your ice dams by keeping your entire roof the same temperature, COLD!
Peek your head in your attic (safely please 🙂). Is is cold, like outside? Do you have a decent amount of insulation? If you can see the ceiling joists, you probably don’t have enough insulation. (Note: poor ventilation can also contribute to a warmer attic by not letting the outside air filter through freely). Adding insulation is one of the easiest ways to keep your warm home air from heating your roof. You can also seal around all penetrations from the home into your attic floor that may be leaking warm air (I.e. ceiling can lights, attic hatches, exhaust vents, plumbing penetrations, etc.).
What You Should NOT Do?
Quite frequently you will see electric heating cables at the roofs edge. These will very rarely solve your problem an they can make your roof shingles brittle.
Please do not try and remove the ice dams using the household tools you have laying around in the garage. These can damage your roof covering easily and there is a high possibility of slipping off your icy roof.
In summary, some icicle formation is bound to happen in heavy winters. However, if you have ‘monster’ icicles you probably need to make some home improvements to keep your home in great condition longer!