The lovely community of Summerlin has to deal with ice dams in the winter, which can be a fluctuating issue. When the temperatures vary widely, they can be a serious problem. They form when roof surfaces are unevenly heated—so that some parts are quite warm, some are barely warm, and some are still frozen. This causes snow and ice to melt (which usually only happens when it's really warm, or when the sun is shining) and then to refreeze at the edges of the roof and in the gutters. The only thing that actually works—and this may come as a surprise—isn't the roofs being perfectly snow-proof, but the houses being warm enough that the snow and ice on the roof don't melt in the first place.
An efficient method of removing ice dams is using steam. This is an effective method of ice dam removal because it melts the ice without harming the roof. Summerlin homeowners should be grateful that this method is available because it is so much safer than other options. Professional ice dam removers who use steam know what they’re doing, and that’s part of the reason why this is the most benign method with the highest margin of safety. Ice dam removers who use steam won’t unintentionally cause water to backflow into your shingles, and they won’t melt the ice under your ridge vent and cause steam to come into your attic (the steam will come out of the machine and the hose, like a jolly old St. Nicholas, and you don’t want to get any of that in your attic).
For Summerlin locals who want a more preventative approach, heat cables offer a long-term solution for managing ice dams. Installed along the roof's edge and in the gutters, cables ensure that the snow and ice on the roof won't refreeze. This is an important installation because it significantly reduces the likelihood of ice dam formation on roofs in our neighborhood. But like any other system in or around your home, heat cables require proper and periodic maintenance to make sure they're functioning as they should. Heat cables combined with good insulation and good ventilation (as we discussed in previous posts) provide a very robust system of immediate prevention for ice dams. And they contribute in other ways too, as we saw when we did an energy audit of houses in the neighborhood—they're a big boost to the energy efficiency and overall longevity of your home.
