De-icing Your Roof

Roofs can acquire ice and snow on them quite regularly, especially if your home is located in a colder climate such as Alaska or Wisconsin. The winter months here are brutal and can leave piles of snow and ice freezing on top of your roof with just a single winter storm. Ridges of ice better known as ice dams can also form along your roof and will cause severe damage if they are not removed. To prevent them from forming, rake the snow off your roof regularly as it falls. Invest in a tool such as a snow rake to make the job easier.

There are several chemicals on the market that are there to assist you with de-icing your roof. You want to avoid the cheap chemicals if at all possible. If you apply them to the ice, it may help at first, but they can start corroding your roof. Truly, if you’re going to use chemicals, it is best to go with something that is higher priced. It may cost more but it will be a higher quality. You want to avoid chemicals such as sodium chloride which will damage your roof for sure. If it seems like too much of a risk and you want to skip the chemicals completely, don’t worry. There are other alternatives to ridding your house of the ice.

You can also choose to go old school and just grab a ladder and a mallet if possible. You can also use a pick but sharp objects are generally not advised when completing a task like this. Make sure your ladder is placed in a stable spot before climbing up it. When you get to the top, just begin hacking away at the ice until it is gone or at least significantly decreased in size. Another alternative to this is just you filling up s bottle with hot water and spraying and spraying until the ice begins to melt. If the ice is of a significant amount, this may take awhile to begin working. If you are patient, the ice will eventually begin melting away.

If you don’t want to deal with any of these things, remember you always have the option to contact a professional that will help you. It is always wise to contact a professional if you are even a little bit unsure about completing a job like this. You don’t ever want to accidentally make the problem worse or injure yourself in the process of trying to fix it. De-icing your roof can be a harrowing job depending on the severity of the snow you are dealing with. To prevent ice on the roof use heat cables which are designed to combat ice from forming. Install them on the roof before the winter months and you will notice the difference they make. Instead of snow piling on the roof and freezing, it simply melts away.