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Complete Eavestroughing
Toronto Eavestroughing & Roofing Repair Services
Serving Toronto , The Greater Toronto Area from Etobicoke,
Peel Region, Scarborough York Region , Durham & Halton Hills
Toronto Snow & Ice Dam Removal
Management of Ice Dams on the Roof and Eavestroughs
A frightful site in winter is a sheet of icicles hanging on the edge of the eavestroughs of your home melting and causing leaking into the home, refreezing onto walkways creating a sheet of ice and worse yet falling onto someone's head as they pass by.
Ice Dams occur on several homes in the winter as they cause worry and damage to the eavestroughs, roof shingles and leakage of water into the basements of the home.
When the eavestroughs are covered in a mound of ice, they do look like the guilty party. But the truth is, the eavestroughs DO NOT cause Ice Dams. Dangerous quantities of ice will still accumulate, even without eavestroughs. It is easy to cast the blame at the poor innocent eavestroughs but they are not the root problem. Ice dams become visible in the eavestroughs although the cause of the ice dam is not faulty eavestroughs in fact has little to do with the eavestroughs.
Why Do Ice Dams Develop ?
If attic temperatures are warmer than the outdoor temperatures than the rooftop snow will melt and then the melted snow will refreeze in the colder below freezing temperatures. As this melted snow water eventually hits the lower edge of the roof the water refreezes, forming the start of an 'ice dam'.
Following several weeks of below zero weather, the thaw-and-freeze cycle has left behind a a huge block of ice on the edge of the roof and eavestroughs. As the snow continues to melt on sunny days, the melted water can not be carried away through the eavestroughs into the downspouts, because the ice is blocking the path way for the water to reach the downspouts, in essence the downspouts are clogged with ice. The downspouts serve to remove the water away from the foundation of the home.
Damage caused by Ice Dams to your Home
If water from the roof does not have a downward flow and there is a backup of water then seeping can occur into your attic, through your ceiling or around the top of the fascia board into the soffits and into your house. This can cause thousands of dollars worth of water damage to walls, furniture and carpets. And worse yet a ceiling could collapse.
If left unattended the worst case scenario is that water has begun to enter the house in small quantities through the inside window sill. At this point water staining is visible although the water has dried. The sealant on the window and the window is destroyed with the ice dam.
How to Prevent Ice Dams
A roof with different surface angles that vary in their exposure to sunlight and drain into valleys can contribute to the formation of ice dams
Remove excessive roof top snow as a foot or more of snow on a well-insulated roof, combined with warm winter temperatures, can result in snow melt and ice formation on the roof and in and along the eavestroughs.
Apply a sidewalk snow melt product or a specially designed steamer to remove the ice dam.
Seal the hidden air leaks into attic spaces to prevent the escape of warm air which causes the snow and ice to melt.
Increase the insulation in the attic reduce the melt freeze cycles however insulation above R-44 adds little value.
Roof vents can help somewhat as a partial answer to ice dam prevention.
Leaf Guards on the eavestroughs can help in that the ice and snow can sit on top of the guards and not inside so when the sun melts the ice the water will flow into an open unobstructed eavestrough and through to the downspout to be removed away from the foundation of the house.
De-icing cables or ice melt cables installed into the eavestroughs, downspouts and on the roof itself will keep the snow melting so the melt water and snow will be removed from the roof and eavestroughs without causing a build up and formation of an ice dam.
There are three possible solutions in battling ice dams:
1. First increase insulation in the attic. You need to reduce heat migration into the attic from your living space, and less heat energy will be available to melt rooftop snow. You will also save money on heating costs. However, doing this does not guarantee you won't get an ice dam.
2. Heat can also escape through air leakage. This is why preventing warm indoor air from travelling into your attic is vital. It doesn't take much of a hole or crack or gap to allow heat to escape.
3. Start by looking at your attic access door. This is a popular spot for massive air leaks into attics. Two rooms ice dams love to form over are the kitchen and bathroom, for obvious reasons. The kitchen especially puts out a ton of heat because of the stove and other appliances.
4. The third thing you need to do is increase attic ventilation through modification in the roof vents and eavestrough soffits.
5. Boosting attic ventilation allows heat that does escape to be vented from the attic space via roof and soffit vents. Adequate roof vents and soffit venting is a must.
When all else Fails, One Last Ice Dam Solution, install deicing / heater cables.
