Rake Your Roof to Avoid Replacing Your Gutters
You may luck out and get an ice dam that never causes a leak in your home. But that still doesn’t mean you should just let the ice dam sit there until it melts.
Why? Because ice dams can cause damage beyond leaks. They can wreck your gutters, too. In particular, ice dams can bend or separate your gutter fasteners.
For a gutter to function properly it must sit flush with the roof of your home. Gutter fasteners help keep the gutter where it belongs. If your gutter fasteners fall into disrepair, water can flow the wrong way – from your roof to the side of your home.
Your gutters were meant to hold water, not to support a ten-inch block of ice. The gutter will bend, causing fasteners to pop right off the side of your home. In some cases the entire gutter system can get detached or fall down.
If your gutter has a weak spot the ice will make it worse.
Cheap, vinyl gutters have a tendency to crack or split when they get old and overloaded. I’ve seen many houses where icicles shoot right through these holes. The added weight has caused enough pressure to turn a weak point into a crack, and then dripping water refreezes as a big icicle, which then juts through the crack and makes it even worse.
Now, those gutters may have been on their last legs already, but it’s possible they’d have squeaked through a few more years if the homeowners simply had raked their roofs. Instead, they’ll need to replace the gutters in the spring, and repair any other damage the ice dam might have caused.
That’s why we take the time to remove the ice from your gutters, too.
Getting ice out of gutters is a grueling job, especially if the homeowner has invested in gutter guards, (a bad move for any Minnesota home that’s prone to ice dams). But we do it.
Why?
First, because any ice that is in the gutter is part of the ice dam problem. Your gutter essentially is part of the overhang, where ice dams form most often.
Second, because we know how much damage all that heavy ice can cause. Gutters do not cause ice dams, but ice dams sure can affect gutters. If you don’t want to pay for gutter replacement in the spring, make sure you get that snow off your roof!