Frozen Rain Gutters

When winter storms hit gutters and downspouts sometimes freeze into solid blocks of ice and homeowners understandably worry about gutters pulling away from the roofs or ice dams forming.

Frozen rain gutters.

Before winter fully sets in it s important to ensure that your gutters and downspouts can handle melting snow and ice. One recommends whacking the gutter from an upstairs window with a baseball bat. If necessary increase the temperature on your hot water heater while doing this but be sure to turn it back down when you re done so no one gets scalded. However consistently frozen or frozen solid downspouts may require immediate attention especially if weather conditions will be less than ideal for the foreseeable future.

Clogged gutters can be a serious hazard and can lead to the formation of ice dams along your roofline accelerating the freezing of your downspouts. Unfortunately dealing with frozen gutters is rarely simple or inexpensive. Frozen downspouts can cause costly damage. On line advice about frozen downspouts varies.

Attempting to break up the ice with a hammer this can dent your gutters or cause them to separate from the roof using a hatchet axe or shovel to break up the ice see 1 taking a blowtorch and melting the ice which could cause a fire. Rain gutters should slope 1 2 inch for every 10 feet. How to prevent gutters from freezing make sure your gutters are properly sloped. Over time the ice may back up into your gutters themselves thereby creating extra weight on your entire guttering system.

When it forms the water then backs up behind the ice dam and creates a pool of water. Some say just leave it alone. Others recommend taking ice melt to the gutters see below a few say heat the gutters to clear them. Run the other end of the hose into the gutter and turn on the water to melt the ice.

An ice dam is a wall of ice that forms at the edge of the roof usually at the gutters or soffit. You can also have a heating panel system installed. That allows water to. This pool of water can leak into your home and cause damage to walls ceilings insulation and other areas.

Although calgary has already had a taste of winter there s still time to clear your gutters and downspouts of fall leaves to that they can do their job of moving water runoff away from your home properly. Another option you can try this winter to keep gutters from freezing is to use. The only foolproof way to melt the ice in your gutter is to hire an ice dam removal company who will use steam to heat and melt the ice and clear your gutters. Hook up a garden hose to the hot water spigot that your washing machine is hooked up to.