With Ottawa's harsh winters, we get a combination of heavy snow falls mixed with extreme freeze - thaw weather cycles. When there is snow on your roof, and the temperature slightly rises, the snow starts to melt and travel down your roof. However, the edge of your roof is still cold and before it can reach the eavestroughs, it freezes! When this happens over and over again, an Ice dam starts to build up at the edge of your shingles. Over time this ice dam grows bigger and bigger, forming icicles that we can see from the ground. As pretty as they might look, this is a tell-tale sign that ice damming is happening to your home.

No matter the size of your roof, ice will get extremely heavy and can put tremendous strain on the exterior structures of your home. We’ve seen ice dams catch onto eavestroughs, tearing them away from your home and causing severe damage to your fascia, soffit and even your siding. Not only that, if the icicles start to fall, walkways below become dangerous to walk under and any object underneath might be damaged.