This is an excellent idea, and of course we must salute your camera person who was willing to climb up on the roof with that ice on the edge, risking coming back down the fast way.
I know I'm too bored when I'm watching this video and reading the comments on this subject while living in Florida. I hadn't even heard of ice melt. I would have guessed that it was water from melted ice.
Just install heating cable before winter and prestidigitation all you had to is plug it in for a couple of hours. No digging out the ladder ever few weeks ever, no salt, no pantyhose no risking a fall. What are going to do with a 2 story home? Winter comes every year so stop mucking around and use a permanent solution.
Works - BUT. If you have water that is frozen in your soffits, you may already be doomed when that stuff starts melting. If you have dirty icicles or dirty ice drips running down the side of your house, keep an eye on your ceiling and your carpets. Lastly, I recall that salt was not ideal for use on the roof, I don't recall why, but I was advised to use calcium chloride. That stuff does work really well, just as shown, but if you need to wear completely waterproof gloves. Otherwise, when your gloves get wet with the calcium chloride, it will leach through to your fingers so fast you can't believe it, and the pain associated with that chemical reaction is immediate and indescribable.
It usually coils or does not lay flat on the ice - therefore, no melting. It needs to be installed before the season. (Coiling and subsequent crossing of the heat tape is to be avoided because of melting the jacket.)
Calcium Chloride, It's a roof on the north side of our house and doesn't get sun. This video is from a few years ago and no shingles or gutters were damaged.
This roof is a north facing porch that is not insulated and is 38'x12'. We do have a roof rake that works great but when you have storm after storm and freezing temps sometimes the ice dams form,
For all you folks who have water leaking in your house because of an ice dam.....the space under your roof is too warm. You need insulation and space ventilation.
It melts a channel through the ice so backed up water can drain and not pool up and freeze. It doesnt melt all the ice in the gutter, just a path through the ice.
Thank you for all the comments, this winter has been a bad one here in the Northeast and now even down South has had some bad winter weather. Be sure and follow my DIY Blog for other tips, tricks, projects, and amazing recipes. Farmhouse1820.com
I just have to respond to comments from people who are saying that ice melt/salt will damage gutters..... Assuming that said damage would require gutter replacement (which is arguable...since not all gutters are made of metal)..... personally, I would rather deal with minimal aluminum gutter replacement as opposed to having to repair some combination of interior... ceiling, wall, floor, window frame, and/or "paint job" damage.... Perhaps I'm wrong. But I don't think so.
From Pine, Colorado. I can't believe how well this works! Used magnesium chloride ice melt in the nylon knee highs on a 4 to 5 inch ice dam in the morning and by late afternoon, drain channels were opened up. By the next day, the ice dam was all gone. Thanks for posting this!
@@louf7178 it does not take much to remove the snow. One swipe is all you need as you move along. No scraping required. If you wait until the snow has a chance to melt and then refresh,, you are too late. Must be done right after a snow.
@@louf7178 Not that bad. Especially if you stay on top of it. I have a 2000 sq. Ft. Ranch. Only takes me 15 minutes to go around the house. Much better than dealing with the ice problems.
Any ice melt/ salt will end up pitting your gutters and make them leak. Gutters are very thin gauge aluminum. Then you will have to replace your gutters.
I would say everything is a trade off. Its not something I would do often but if you have bad ice dams you need to deal with it somehow or you end up with damage inside your home. I always roof rake a few feet of my roof and I have never had an issue. Ice dams are really a symptom of poor insulation of your home. That is another video and more home repairs. Take care
Works! I've never lived in snow before and thought icicles we the greatest thing! Then water leaking from the walls in the bedroom, bath and utility room. I call then snow socks and after 3 days the ice on the side of the house is all gone and the 3 rooms are dry. Thanks Steve
Even with proper insulation the area of roof inside the walls is always warmer than the roof overhang. Just the sun melting snow on the roof can send a lot of water to the gutters. As soon as the water gets past the wall on to the overhang it begins to cool. The better the venting the cooler the overhang, which causes water to freeze faster. In this woman's case the water froze in the eavestrough and built up from there. The real reason ice dams form is because meltwater is not channeled away. Need heat cables in eavestrough for metal roofs, and extra heat cables on overhang with shingles. 50 years doing this.
@@slowfinger2 yeah we have heat cable they work great but last year a critter must’ve chewed something up because they aren’t working this year..up on the roof I go
The easiest way is in the fall install a roof and gutter deicing kit they have them at Home Depot Ace Hardware then you don’t have to climb a ladder in the winter problem solved I tried it with nylons that doesn’t work great why wait until it’s cold 🥶 Why wait till you have a problem
Don't use anything with rock salt in it. Magnesium or calcium chloride will not harm roof or plants or animals. The only thing is calcium chloride is rough on metal
i used calcium carbonate in an old mans sock like that t handle bad ice damning one winter and it worked great. I tied a string ono mine and could toss them up onto the roof, the string allowed me to position them without having to resort to a ladder, my roof is about 12 ft off the ground. It gave a path for any melt to find it's way off the roof.
I cant imagine it being any good to put Ice melt chemicals on your roof shingles or gutters. But if you got water dripping inside, you got bigger problems
Never mind the clowns below. There are hard mouths in every crowd. Jealous, me thinks, 'cause we'd never watch their vids assuming they had the capacity to make one.
Ok so I took pics of my loooong icicles and the ice in my gutters and sent them to my roofer. He replied" Look, no need to worry, its not been a typical winter, we had a warm December and then the snow came, so we did not have an early deep freeze like previous years, so lots of homes have icicles this year, when we installed your roof, we laid down 10 ft. of ice and water shield, so you should be fine, what we can do is install some heat cables in the gutters in the spring, in the mean time if you are worried about the weight of the big icicles on the gutters, just knock them off periodically". Any thoughts?
That's all sound great. This video is to help people that have water dripping into there homes and are need of a quick fix. Of course proper venting, correct insulation R-Value etc, and heat cables help as well. The ice melt in the stocking creates a channel for the water to drain down and hopefully not back up into your home. The rain/snow guard works wonders. Our home is 200 years old and when we redo the roof we will be adding that as well.
@@therewolf615 you want to create a channel for the water to be able to drain out. Like mentioned above most roofs have a few feet of snow/weather shield on them but the water can back up even higher on some roofs and start leaking in through shingles. So by creating a vertical channel the water should have a spot to drain out from. Good luck
I put 2 courses of snow and protector about 6' wide on the bare roof deck before re- shingling then I use a roof rake to pull back the snow from about 3-4' from the roof deck in the winter before it gets too deep. I have a rancher with a 4/12 pitch and it has worked ok for me to prevent ice damming.There is electrical cables that do the same thing but I can reach the roof from the ground with my roof rake so I rake off the snow before I have any problems. I have been doing this for about 30 years now and it works ok for me.
I did this with some of my wife's used and worn knee highs she wears to work. Didn't even need to put salt in them. Worked like a charm. Just threw them up there. Her feet stink so bad when she comes home from work and takes her heels or flats off. I mean BAD. Those knee highs melted all the ice and I swear some of the shingles melted too. The knee highs I used were reinforced toe, or in my wife's case, I like to refer to them as reinforced stink trap. They were nice and stiff and cardboard like from her having them on all day. So, if your wife's knee highs or nylons smell as wretched as my wife's do at the end of the day, you can save some salt.
I’m a roofer for 22 years. I will explain how icicles form and how to prevent it from happening in the first place. A home with Poor insulation and or ventilation will produce icicles. A home with no heat in the attic will not produce icicles. No matter what. Icicles are produced by snow on the roof melting and then refreezing on at the eave. This happens when the attic is warmer than the outside temp and causes the snow to melt. Its not visible because it’s the snow nearest to the shingles that melts of course. However once the snow, now water reaches the eaves it is now outside the “envelope” of the home and its heat. Therefore it freezes once again. Thou this time as water not snow. As this continues the eaves overflow and the water freezes into icicles. In short however and once you ensure that the temperature in the attic is identical or at least close to the outside temp. You will not have icicles. Good insulation and ventilation will prevent an attic from getting warm. The attic is Not living space. It’s not rocket science. Be successful. I wish everyone the best.
I am not excited by this technique. For us we use a well and don't want chemicals going into our ground water. For everyone else I don't like the idea of going up on a ladder in the snow instead of on dry ground. We live in the Colorado mountains and really had this problem. Our worst ice dam formed on a gutter above the second story of our house. Our 24 foot ladder can't even reach it. Last Winter the ice dam got huge and one afternoon broke off tearing away the gutter so it was hanging vertically from one side. It sounded like an explosion. The ice chunk that hit the deck and broke through a thick board was well over 100 pounds. It would have probably killed us or our dogs if we were outside and it had hit one of us. When the weather got nice I removed the hanging gutter and replaced the deck board, so now there is no gutter on that section of our roof. It doesn't make any difference when it rains in the Summer and this Winter it hasn't built up an ice dam. Remind me why we use gutters.
I had a ice damn where the water backed up into our bay window and was dripping inside the house. Went out with a snow rake . Raked the snow off got on a latter with a claw hammer and 30 minutes later no more ice damn.
Yea, but your not out of the woods, you have to check behind the drywall because most likely black mold will be growing. If you are careful and read how to eradicate it you can do it yourself. But you must follow all the precautions including wearing a respirator with the right filter. If you are not comfortable with all the precautions, hire a professional.
Years ago, when I remodeled my home, which is on a concrete pad, I removed my gutters. Problem solved. I've never had issues with ice dams, water getting into the 2nd floor walls/ceiling. My neighbors still have gutters, still have ice dams and water damage every winter. I may have 3 foot or more ice cycles off my roof, but I don't have water damage or roof damage.
@@jimhenderson8634 I also took the time to build 12inch overhangs onto the house, when I replaced my roof. I used Grace ice/water shield. Everyone else on my street has gutters up against the brick of the house. My overhangs can get as cold as the outside temp, which reduces any build up. Looking at my neighbors today, sun is out, but their gutters/roofs are melting, but still have ice, my roof is clear. This is when they get the water backing into their outer walls/ceilings. the thawing and the water can't go anywhere fast enough.
@@1116FSSLY As the water runs down from sun to shade, it freezes on the drip edge/shingle surface of the 12" overhangs, which are outside air temp. True, it builds up, but I have Grace ice/water shield underlayment, which is like 36" rubber tape that melts/seals when heated when installed during a summer roof replacement. It is NOT like Owens/Corning ice/water shield which is like rolled asphalt roofing material with glue backing. My facia boards are pvc Azek. I've never had water into my attic/rooms since I redesigned from original structure of 1944 design.
Men’s tube socks full of table salt works faster. One near the down spout, the rest at the far end, as high as you can throw them. About 4 to 7 days, check progress.
Do not substitute rock salt for calcium chloride, as rock salt can damage shingles and kill bushes and foliage beneath. Make sure the ice melt product you buy contains only calcium chloride, which is safe for shingles and vegetation.
Thank you, we've tried this and it works. This year the ice dams were the worst ever. I spread the ice melt over the entire roof then waited for a while and then hooked a hose to the hot water tap. it took about 3 hours to melt all the ice.
You should edit this video and clarify not to use common ice melters on the roof it will wreck the shingles and roof. You want to use the stuff specifically made for ice melt on roofs
Adding salt to the roof to remove ice dams has mixed results and takes time. Consider the run off from the salt it may damage landscaping. Results depend on how cold the temps are, if there’s exposure to the sun, how much snow is above the ice etc. It will require more then one trip up your ladder to place and move, so ladder safety should be a priority. One of the best things you can do before ice dams form is to rake the snow from the bottom edge of the roof.
Or better yet, insulate your house better so there is no heat escaping to melt the snow on the roof. Ice on the roof is a clear sign of poor insulation.
If you notice what salt does to asphalt roads, this idea will do the same to your asphalt shingles. Only your asphalt shingles are very thin and will rot away quick. Then you'll get lots if water in your house.
I'm not saying to place the rock salt on before the ice damn forms. I'm saying if you have an ice damn and water is already backing up and leaking into your house you can fix it with this method. The sock does help as a barrier to try and protect the shingles some what but this is a quick fix to an even bigger problem. Thanks for your comment.
@@jordanbeckfilms I am no expert but this is a remedy for the immediate issue. This is not a corrective action. Call a professional to look at your soffit and ventilation for your homes attic or crawlspace. You are trapping heat through it and its not escaping allowing it to heat the roof and cause this. Proper ventilation would prevent this from happening. That and proper insulation to slow heat transfer. Call a pro.
@@jordanbeckfilms I just googled ventilation experts near me. Plopped on my headset and began calling with my issue. Get multiple quotes from them. Then Google ice dam removal service near me and once again call a bunch of places and get prices. Its not gonna be cheap to completely solve the issue most likely. Depending on how bad the root cause is. Could require full redo of your insulation. Hope this helps
I do enjoy the trip to Walmart to buy large quantities of womens nylons.... it keeps the cashiers on their toes. Sometimes I add some duct tape and a shovel, just to see if they are paying attention.
@kyliemiu I would say every 6-8 ft would be good and to use the sodium chloride which is good up to -5º. Sometimes you might have to readjust where you lay it in to make sure it's getting all the way off the gutter or eaves. And alway be safe.
Great point. The sun hitting the shingles will melt the snow and cause a little ice but larger ice dams occurr because of extensive heat loss in the attic melting the snow that re-freezes once it hits the unheated overhangs. Extra attic insulation is the number one energy cost saver because heat rises naturally making the celiling/attic space the most vulnerable heat loss area.
Kill So not the case, once the Ice melts and creates the channel the water has a place to drain or drip from and shouldn’t back up into your house. You might need to move it after a few hours depending on how wide your ice dam is, or you can just place 2 or 3 on your roof evenly spaced out all at once. Thanks for watching my video and commenting
Easier method just turn pn the heat tapes. That wsy ice dam melts and the gutters also stay openand don't freeze up. Using what shd is foing that melt water will re freeze as it drains off.
No need to get on a ladder. Tie a rope on to the end of the stocking (pack it well with ice melt) and swing it on to your roof. You can position the stocking with the rope or a section of pole you get when you buy a roof rake. It might take a few tries to position the stocking in a north/south orientation (and you'll have rope hanging off your roof), but it's better than having water drip in your house. You can just pull the rope down when the threat of ice dams is gone. Use calcium chloride or potassium chloride, and not rock salt; that will eat into your roof and gutters.
+chesschamp1000 I would say that it varies, It would for sure keep the ice melt from forming quickly but the ice melt depending on the temperature outside, direct sun, and also heat escaping from the house might not last long enough. So you would need to keep refilling or replacing the stocking. Good luck with this up coming winter. Brooke
Thank you. I've looked around the net but I haven't seen anyone talk about placing the stocking in the gutters before the ice dam forms. I think I'll try it and let you know how it goes. Thanks again. Bryan
@@BryanLChess I haven't seen that tried in gutters. But I have seen RU-vid videos of people trying to prevent snow and ice on the driveway by putting salt down before it storms and it didn't seem to work.
