How to Prevent Ice Dams: 5 Tips for Homeowners

Although New England weather can be quite unpredictable, here in New Hampshire we can expect our winter season to include freezing temperatures and significant amounts of snowfall. Unfortunately, this extreme weather can pave the way for the formation of ice dams, so it’s important to be proactive to prevent ice from building up and damaging your home. Let’s take a closer look at what ice dams are, how to prevent them from forming, and how to determine whether you will have coverage in the event that your home sustains this type of damage.

What Are Ice Dams?

Ice dams are walls of ice that typically form at the edge of your roof or gutters when these areas clog up with ice. When ice dams form, they trap water runoff from your roof, creating a pool of water that can eventually travel underneath the roof’s shingles and leak into your home, damaging your roof, walls, ceilings, flooring, insulation, and personal property. Factors that can increase the chances of ice dams forming on your roof include heavy snowfall and improper ventilation in your attic. If your attic isn’t properly ventilated, it will contain warmer areas where less snow will build up and begin to melt, even if the outside temperature is freezing.

How to Prevent Ice Dams

In order to prevent ice dams from damaging your home, there are several short- and long-term steps you can take.  

• After a snowstorm, use a roof rake or push broom to remove snow from your roof. Use caution when working on your roof to prevent injuring yourself or damaging the roof’s materials. Never use salt or calcium chloride to melt the snow on your roof, as these corrosive chemicals can shorten the lifespan of metal gutters, flashings and downspouts.

• If water is already leaking into your house, making channels through the ice dam will allow the water behind the dam to drain off your roof. Hosing the dam with tap water on a warm day, working upward from the lower edge of the ice dam, will help you accomplish this. Keep in mind that this is only a temporary solution and that you must use extreme caution when working on your roof.

• Increase the insulation, sealing and ventilation in your attic to reduce heat loss.

• Make your ceilings air tight to prevent warm air from flowing from your house into your attic.

• Call a professional to assist you with this type of work, especially if you are not comfortable or fit to be working on your roof. If damage to your home has already occurred, contact a professional property mitigation and remediation company to prevent the problem from worsening. Before allowing anyone to begin work on your property, remember to make sure they have proper commercial insurance in place, including liability and worker’s compensation coverage.

Ice Dam Damage: Are You Covered?

Unfortunately, in some cases, by the time you discover the ice dam, property damage has already occurred. If this happens to you, it’s important to understand whether your homeowners insurance policy provides coverage for this type of damage. In most situations, the answer is “yes,” but coverage varies from one insurance company to another so it’s best to call your insurance agent to review your specific policy.

At Hunkins & Eaton Insurance Agency, our agents work to ensure that your home and valuable possessions remain protected. For additional information about ice dam damage and how it applies to your home insurance coverage, or to get a free insurance quote, please call us today at 603-444-3975 or visit us online at www.hunkins-eaton.com.  

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