CRAFTON, Pa. — Roofers have been busy over the last few weeks working on homes with ice dams blocking their gutters.
“It’s been chaos,” Prescott Roofing owner Chris Schmider said. “We’ve been averaging about 100 phone calls a day and countless emails.”
A homeowner in Crafton, who wanted to remain anonymous, was one of those callers last week.
“My wife noticed that there was water coming from our exhaust fan in the bathroom,” he told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek. “We both inspected the paint in the ceiling was starting to pour out water, and that’s what led us to call the roofing company. I’ve been living here for about 10 years, and I’ve never had an issue. I’ve never encountered an ice dam.”
In fact, it’s the busiest winter for ice dam removal Schmider has had in 16 years.
“2010, actually, I think they called it ‘Snowmageddon’ back then, so that was the last time, and we were pretty much the same workload back then about two weeks afterwards,” Schmider said.
In 2010, Schmider and his crews used a hammer and chisel to clear ice dams. Seven years ago, he bought a machine that blasts water as hot as 290 degrees to quickly melt the ice enough to remove it from the gutter.
“It sat on the shelf, and everybody thought it was a dumb purchase at the time, but this year I was able to help customers,” he said.
Ice dams can tear gutters off roofs and could cause damage inside homes and businesses. But there are ways you can try to prevent them from forming.
First, if there’s snowfall of at least six to eight inches, clearing the snow from your roof at least six feet from the gutter can prevent ice from forming there.
Or you can install a heat cable. That’s a de-icing cable that runs through your gutter to keep it warm enough for water to flow.
“You’re not going to stop this from happening,” Schmider said. “I know it’s been 16 years since we’ve had a winter like this, but it’s bound to happen again. We live in Pittsburgh.”
Even though it’s going to be warmer over the next few days, roofers say if you’re still dealing with ice dam issues, give them a call.
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