During the winter, snow on your house can melt, run down to the edges of the roof, then refreeze and form icicles. Although they look beautiful, icicles can be dangerous. If they fall, they can injure people or pets or cause property damage. The weight of the ice can also damage your roof.
How to Deal With Icicles
If the icicles are relatively small (i.e., less than 12” long and less than 1” wide), you can remove them with a telescoping roof rake. Just extend the rake and push gently at the base of the icicles.
Stand far enough away so that an icicle can’t hit you when it falls. Wear gloves and safety goggles, too, just in case. You should also wear boots with good treads. If there is ice on the ground, use rock salt to melt it before you start removing icicles.
When you’re done, collect the icicles and remove them from the area so they don’t melt and refreeze. You can put ice-melting tablets in the gutters to melt any ice that might be blocking them.
Don’t use a shovel, a hammer or a similar object to detach icicles from your roof. That might seem like an easy way to deal with the problem, but it can damage your roof and you can get injured.
How to Prevent Icicles in the Future
Icicles form when water can’t flow through the gutters and instead accumulates near the eaves and freezes. Those conditions can also produce ice dams—thick masses of ice that form along the eaves. An ice dam can damage the roof and cause gutters to fall down. Water can leak into the house and damage drywall, insulation, flooring and furniture.
It’s generally easier and cheaper to prevent a problem than to fix one. A simple solution is to remove leaves, twigs and other types of debris from your gutters so melted snow can flow through them. You can clean the gutters yourself or hire someone to do it for you.
Gutter guards can cover the gutters and keep most debris out. That can save you time and money since you won’t have to worry about cleaning your gutters as often.
When it snows, removing snow and ice before too much accumulates can help you prevent icicles from forming. A roof rake has a long handle so you can stand on the ground and safely clean the roof. Simply pull snow in the direction that the roof slopes and let it fall to the ground.
Improving insulation and ventilation can keep the roof and the eaves at the same temperature so snow won’t melt on the roof, then refreeze once it reaches the eaves. That’s a long-term solution that can prevent icicles and ice dams. A local contractor can inspect your roof and tell you if you should install more vents and/or insulation.
