How to Prevent Ice Damming (September 30, 2001):

Now is the time to take care of what causes ice damming. The first thing you want to do is make sure your attic has plenty of insulation and proper ventilation. Heat rises and will go right through your ceiling, into the attic and to the top of the roof, and starting melting snow. As it melts, it runs down the roof to the overhang where it’s cold, starts to freeze, and dams up. Then it will get under the shingles and end up leaking in to your house, damaging your ceilings and walls.

Now is the time to make sure it doesn’t happen this winter. To help prevent this, you can put roof cables on your overhangs and the valleys on the roof. These are cables that you zigzag in the areas where the melting snow may freeze and start backing up. You run the cable through the gutter and downspout so the melting snow has a way out. Home Hardware has a good selection of roof cables and roof rakes in stock, and now is the time to do it before it gets cold. Home Hardware also has water pipe heat tapes and now is a good time to check your pipes that could freeze and make sure you are ready for winter.