Frozen Gutters Water In House

The worst thing that can happen is for the melting ice to find its way into your house.

Frozen gutters water in house.

Chipping away at ice is dangerous destructive and futile. With all the snow we ve had the gutters on my house have frozen solid so much that there is now a dam of ice going up over the first row of tiles. This way if water collects on the edge of the roof it won t find its way through the waterproofing. Consistently frozen downspouts require immediate attention.

An ice dam is a wall of ice that forms at the edge of the roof usually at the gutters or soffit. Sometimes gutters do freeze up completely and people worry they are going to pull away from the house or cause a huge ice dam. 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. The only sure fire way to melt the ice in frozen gutters is to hire a professional.

It s very hard to remove an ice dam and it s very dangerous. This pool of water can leak into your home and cause damage to walls ceilings insulation and other areas. You can also install mesh screens over your gutters that catch leaves and other debris from falling inside. You can install an l shaped splashed guard to prevent the overrun during a storm.

When it forms the water then backs up behind the ice dam and creates a pool of water. This can lead to your gutter and downspout tearing away from your roof or siding leading to more costly and larger problems such as water leaks and improper drainage. Though the results are guaranteed the cost can run you several hundred dollars and if any residual water stays inside your gutters it could refreeze. So they try to chip out the ice themselves.

If you have a steeply pitched roof the water may be traveling so fast it splashed over the gutter. The second worst thing that can happen is that the ice in the backed up gutter gets heavy enough to tear the gutter off the house. Many contractors employ equipment that injects steam and or hot water into your gutters and through your downspouts to get rid of ice. I noticed water dripping in around the back door and through one of the air vents in the window.

First resist the urge to go after the ice with a hammer or axe. On inpsection in the eaves i can see ice on the internal wall and water is starting to spread.