Dangers of winter - Damaged gutter

Unfortunately, despite her beauty, winter can cause plenty of damage to your property. Poor management of water in your gutters and downspouts can be a big problem for your foundation.

Here is important information to keep in mind when it comes to your gutters and downspouts during winter time.

First of all, it’s crucial to prepare your gutters for snow accumulations. The best thing you can do is call professionals like at Modern Eavestroughing to clean and secure them so they don’t collapse under the weight of frozen water that accumulates inside.

Water can freeze and eventually generate icicles hanging from your gutter. The ice will crush them and make the gutter unusable since most of them are fabricated in aluminium.

All of this can be avoided with regular maintenance of the eaves, this way your investment will be a very profitable. It’s important to protect your properties foundation, with a little prevention, this will preserve the equity in your home.

How to prevent ice dams

A roof can have different angles that vary according to their exposure to the sun and this can contribute to the formation of ice dams.

The combination of winter and warm temperatures can cause snow to melt and ice formation on the roof and cause bad damage to your gutters. You can stop this process by removing excessive snow.

  • You can seal hidden air leaks to prevent the warm air to escape which causes snow and ice to melt.
  • Increasing the insulation in the attic to reduce frost cycles
  • Alurex gutter guards will prevent the ice and the snow to sit on top so that when the sun melts the ice, the water will flow in an open gutter, through the descent and pulled away from your homes foundation.
  • Defrost cables installed in gutters can melt the ice even in the downspouts. The snow and water will be removed from the roof though the gutters without causing a build up and causing an ice dam.

WARNING!

Removing an ice dam can put you at risk of serious injury or can cause obvious damage to the roof of your property if you don’t proceed correctly. Never walk on a snow covered roof, and be sure to use a ladder with proper safety procedures. We strongly suggest you contact professionals who have the experience and the right equipment to carry out this work.

Immediate action: You need to clear the snow and ice dams from the roof to eliminate the major components of infiltrations. Using a roof rake and push broom, remove snow by gently going with the roof line slopes. Never pull the snow because you can damage the shingles and cause other damage. Then carefully dig a channel through the ice dam so the water is able to flow through, and make sure to stop when you get close to the roof. It’s not necessary to remove all of the ice or the dam itself.

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