Ice Dam help

[Paltik 3]

Anybody owns or knows a contractor/roofing guys in Bergen County that remove snow on the roof? Any info will be greatly appreciated...Thanks!

[seamusSU 0]

There's another thread going with some ideas for you http://njgunforums.com/forum/index.php/topic/66386-maybe-not-as-bad-as-sandy/

[HardCorr 0]

I used a roof shovel today to move some of the snow off the roof away from the gutter. It is basically a hard plastic or aluminum low profile shovel that's about 2' long with 10' extensions that you can add to it. Then I put some heat trace in the gutter. It's gonna take a while for the heat trace to melt the ice, but a lot melted today.

[rightisright 3]

Good luck finding rock salt, water softener salt or any other de-icing agent these days....  It's the .22 LR of the winter fighting agents! 

[HardCorr 0]

If you can find calcium chloride, you can make socks out of pantyhose and lay them in your gutters that will help too.

[T Bill 649]

Calcium chloride snakes are used to melt channels that the water uses to get out.   Best solution for ice dams I have seen was in New England where they use steam to melt them off of roof.  I do not know anybody around here in NNJ that does this.  Just don't go wacking away at that ice on the roof. Does more damage to roof that you can believe.  You'll be replacing it sooner than you think.  Biggest problem is lack of proper ventilation in attic to keep roof cold enough that snow melts like it is supposed to.  Tough to do at times.  I have two bow windows that leak like crazy in this weather. Time to get rid of them.  Just a bad season for snow.  There is 16-24 inches on it right now.  It's got to go!

[Silence Dogood 468]

Get a snow rake - they work great!

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_0_9?k=snow+rake&sprefix=snow+rake

[Handyman 5,682]

If the water is coming in already, there are a couple of things to do.

 

Tom Silva from This Old House says stick a box fan in the attic and point it at the leaking area to cause it to freeze up.

 

To get the water from out from behind the dam, you need to make a channel. Pounding and picking will destroy your roof. If it is too much of an emergency to wait for ice melt to work, don't pound and chip at the ice. You can use a cordless drill (carefully) or a torch (very, very carefully) to make a channel or two to drain the water from behind the dam.

[Paltik 3]

Thanks for all your input but my problems are i can't climb up the roof cuz its too high and i don't have an access to the attic.

[Old Glock guy 1,127]

Nothing you can do now until you remove SNOW from the eves and hope it melts this week.......

 

Yes, everything I've read on the subject is about prevention.  Once it happens, you're basically screwed until it melts on its own.

[Barms 98]

Getting worse before getting better. Seeing so many houses with icicles down the siding and front doors. Which means it has worked back from the gutters.

 

I think rain Friday is gonna blow out a lot of ceilings.

[greatgunstatenj 32]

Big melt coming today! I hope all the roof clearing and breaking of ice out of gutters yesterday helped. I couldn't reach the highest points but did as much as I could. 

[EWC88 24]

If you can find calcium chloride, you can make socks out of pantyhose and lay them in your gutters that will help too.

I'll have to remember this for next year, yea next year please no more this year!

[Handyman 5,682]

Thanks for all your input but my problems are i can't climb up the roof cuz its too high and i don't have an access to the attic.

 

Take pantyhose and fill with some kind of melt agent as described above. Tie it securely closed. Tie a really long string and throw it up hign in the roof. Slowly pull the string down until it crosses the damn and hangs over the gutter. Might take a few tosses, but this will work.

[Mikeythumbs 1]

OK this is not about ice dams but i have a question. I found some water softener tablets and tried to use them to melt the ice on the walk it does not seem to work are you guys crushing them before you use them or just throwing them out there.

[Handyman 5,682]

OK this is not about ice dams but i have a question. I found some water softener tablets and tried to use them to melt the ice on the walk it does not seem to work are you guys crushing them before you use them or just throwing them out there.

 

Depending upon the exact issue they were treating water for, there are a few different things that might go in a water softener. It might be limestone (calcium carbonate) which won't do a thing.

[Mikeythumbs 1]

It say 100 % pure salt on the bag. I guess I will try to break them up a little and see if that helps any 

[ogfarmer 138]

since they are very dense I would crush them or else they will take a while to work

[DeerSlayer 241]

Yeah the pellets dont work as well as solar salt. Crush the pellets up.

 

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[Howard 538]

The next time you have to replace a roof have a 3 to 6 foot rubber membrane installed on the leading edge of the roof.  This is what the scene is in my area:

 

 

 

 

 

[greatgunstatenj 32]

The next time you have to replace a roof have a 3 to 6 foot rubber membrane installed on the leading edge of the roof.  This is what the scene is in my area:

 

Yup! My friend actually told me that is code now for any roof that is over a living space. It gets put on the wood, before the tar paper goes down. 

[Mikeythumbs 1]

Thanks guys