How Ice Dams Form:

1. Heat leaking into the attic warms the roof's surface enough to melt a bottom layer of snow.

2. The melted snow runs down the roof and freezes into a growing ice dam when it reaches the cold overhang and eaves.

3. Water blocked by the dam is forced back under the shingles and into the house, where it can damage roofboards, insulation, ceilings and walls.

Preventing Ice dams

**Remove snow from the roof. A "roof rake" or a push broom can be used.

**Increase the ceiling-roof insulation to cut down on heat loss into the attic space.

**Make the ceiling airtight so no warm air can flow from the house into the attic space.

**Use electrical heating tapes along the eaves, gutters and downspouts. Heating tapes (also known as deicing cable) reduce ice dam buildup by creating heated channels that permit melt water to drain into gutters and downspouts.

 

 

Courtesy of Pioneer Press

For more info: www.dpsv.state.mn.us/docs/infocntr/informain.htm