Why Gutters Freeze

To prevent your roof from having too much snow invest in a roof rake.

Why gutters freeze.

How to thaw frozen downspouts. However occasionally water will fill up the gutters and freeze forming ice dams. Clogged gutters can be a serious hazard and can lead to the formation of ice dams along your roofline accelerating the freezing of your downspouts. First the sheer weight of ice dams in gutters can cause them to detach from the home warp or otherwise become damaged.

When a heavy snow occurs keep excess water from flowing into your gutters and possibly freezing by using your roof rake to scrape some of the snow off of your roof. A home s gutters have basically one job to divert water away from the top of the house as quickly as possible. In the winter when gutters are already clogged any amount of snow can cause big problems. Too much snow can clog your gutters and cause them to freeze.

The water trying to come down the roof behind an ice dam cannot get to the ground and instead backs up under the shingles. Before winter fully sets in it s important to ensure that your gutters and downspouts can handle melting snow and ice. This weight may increase the odds of your gutters and downspouts tearing away from your roof or siding which can lead to bigger problems involving water leaks and improper drainage. Over time the ice may back up into your gutters themselves thereby creating extra weight on your entire guttering system.

That in turn creates ice dams. To combat this issue you should take special care to clean out your gutters especially in the autumn when leaves and twigs are falling from the trees. This impacts water diversion in many ways. Water expands when it freezes which can cause your gutters to warp and crack under the additional pressure.

Frozen gutters do not allow water to easily leave the edge of the roof and this causes it to pool and freeze right there.