Preventing Ice Dams: ice dams occur when the warm air from inside your house seeps through the insulation and gets into your attic.
This warm air passes around your ceiling through openings such as recessed lighting fixtures, chimney, and plumbing or retractable attic stairs.
Here are some suggestions on how to prevent ice dams from forming on your roof:
Make sure that the attic is properly insulated and sealed from all interior rooms in the house.
When air escapes from an interior room in the house and seeps into the attic this causes the formation of warm spots on the underside of the roof, which is the main cause of ice dams build up.
Be sure and check all vent pipes, exhaust fans, chimneys, wall/ceiling framing joints, and lighting fixtures for leaks, and seal them with silicone caulk, or foam sealant to stop the air flow from entering the attic.
All recessed light fittings type IC should be sealed and covered with insulation.
Check all roof guttering to ensure that they are free from debris such as leaves, twigs, etc, and clean them if necessary.
If gutters are clogged this can cause ice to build up and backup onto the roof, make sure that the water can flow freely without any obstructions.
Ensure that there is a proper open channel to allow cold air to pass from soffit vents to the attic.
Also check that you have insulation baffles attached to the underside of the roof sheathing.
Be sure and check that all attic vents are properly opened to allow any heat that might escapes from the other parts of the house and enters the attic will be able to go out through the vents before it has a chance to warm the roof.
