Last winter was brutal, and I had these massive ice dams forming on my roof. Tried a bunch of stuff, but finally got serious about insulation this fall. Added extra insulation in the attic, sealed up some sneaky air leaks around vents and lights, and boom—no ice dams so far this year. Feels like a huge win, honestly. Curious if anyone else tackled ice dams successfully...what did you end up doing?
"Added extra insulation in the attic, sealed up some sneaky air leaks around vents and lights, and boom—no ice dams so far this year."
Glad to hear that's working out for you—I had a similar issue last winter myself. Being a first-time homeowner, I honestly didn't even know what an ice dam was until I saw chunks of ice hanging off the gutters and water dripping down my siding. Talk about a crash course in home maintenance.
Initially, I tried those heating cables you see everywhere. They helped a bit, but definitely weren't a permanent fix. After doing some research, I realized the main culprit was actually poor attic ventilation along with inadequate insulation. So this past fall, I installed soffit vents and ridge vents to keep the attic space cooler and improve airflow. Also beefed up my attic insulation from about R-20 to R-49 using blown-in cellulose insulation. It was messy work (dust masks are your friend), but pretty satisfying knowing it might save me headaches down the line.
So far this winter, no ice dams yet—fingers crossed it stays that way. One thing I'm still considering though is gutter guards or covers...my gutters tend to fill up with leaves pretty quickly, and I've heard that clogged gutters can make ice dams worse by trapping melting snowwater. Has anyone found gutter guards helpful for preventing ice dams, or is that just marketing hype?
Gutter guards can help with leaves, sure, but honestly they're not gonna do much to prevent ice dams. I've seen plenty of homes with gutter guards still get nasty ice buildup. The real issue is heat escaping from your attic and melting snow unevenly. You've already tackled insulation and ventilation, which is great. I'd say save your money on gutter guards and just clean the gutters regularly—annoying, yeah, but way more effective in the long run.
Yeah, gutter guards aren't really designed for ice dams—more about keeping leaves and debris out. I've seen homeowners frustrated after installing them thinking it'd help with ice, but nope...still got those icicles hanging around. You're spot-on about attic heat being the culprit. If insulation and ventilation are sorted, regular gutter cleaning is honestly your best bet. Not glamorous, I know, but neither is chipping ice off your roof in February.
