What is an Ice Dam?
An Ice Dam is a shelf of ice that traps water behind it causing the water to back up into your home causing substantial damage to the interior of the home. They cause damage to your roof, gutters, attic insulation, sheetrock and exterior walls.
Prevention
The best way to prevent ice dams from forming is making sure your attic doesn’t get to warm during the cold winter months. Having a well-ventilated attic, making sure living spaces below the attic are well insulated so that the heat doesn’t escape, making sure there are no substantial areas of heat loss from the home into the attic.
Solutions
Call a professional!
Insul-Seal uses steam to safely remove ice dams from any roof. Steam melts the ice away quickly and safely. We pride ourselves in being able to remove ice efficiently and without allowing water back up to cause any further damage that the ice dam has already done. This is the only sure way we have found to solve the problem
How An Ice Dam Forms
1. Indoor heating rises through the ceiling into the attic and warms the roof surfaces
2. Snow on the heated part of the roof melts and flows down until it reaches that part of the roof that is below 32 degrees. Water freezes into an ice dam
3. The dam grows as it is fed by melting snow above, but water held by the dam backs up and stays liquid
4. Eventually, the water finds cracks in the roof covering and flows into the attic, from where it could seep through the ceiling and interior walls.