Gambrel Roof Ice Dams

The roof stays cold and the snow melts from the top down not the bottom up.

Gambrel roof ice dams. This roof style for cold climates unwittingly accelerates ice dam. If ignored ice dams can cause serious damage to your roof gutters paint insulation and interior drywall and. Gambrel or mansard roofs and ice damming it s no coincidence that ice damming occurs most pervasively in the mansard or gambrel styled roof. An ice dam is a hump of ice that forms at the edge of a roof under certain wintertime conditions.

Ice dams are a common sight in northern new england winters and home partners has dealt with quite a few. Heat loss from a house snow cover and outside temperatures interact to form ice dams. I plan on insulating my house this year with this system. Most common ice dam locations on your roof.

An ice dam can damage both your roof and the inside of your home. He installed a few systems starting in 2005 and realized he couldn t develop the ice dam prevention business without impacting his construction business. Why ice dams are dangerous. It will air seal the attic add insulation to current standards and prevent ice dams very effectively.

If your home is prone to ice dams when you re roof is the time to see if you can increase your attic ventilation as well. The interlocking nature of most metal panels also helps avoid problems due to ice dams. Eliminate its fuel source if left alone the ice dam will continue to be built up by the snow and ice up on your roof. Here is a map of where ice dams are most likely to occur.

I have a gambrel roof and my ice dams are terrible. More critically ice dams can cause meltwater to back up under the shingles where it can flow down and ruin ceiling and wall surfaces. The design was popularised both in america and france by virtue of tax avoidance without regard for thermal performance. So the first step is to remove this ice and snow using a snow rake which is a retractable rake that can extend up to about 17 feet or so in length.

Here are five ways to remove an ice dam from your roof. Ice dams never happen over unheated spaces such as sheds garages porches etc. Keeping your attic at a similar temperature to the outside will go a long way in keeping ice dams from occurring. Severe ice dams can weigh many hundreds of pounds compromising the structure of the roof eaves.

You can use this guide to check for ice dams yourself. So greg searched for a solution that would work regardless of the underlying house and roof structure and found the technology now used in all of new england ice solutions designs. It will put gutters and downspouts at risk too. For ice dams to form there must be snow on the roof and at the same time higher portions of the roof s outside surface must be above 32 degrees f freezing while lower surfaces are below 32f.