How to Fix a Water Wall or Ice Dam

Roof shingles are meant to shed water, not resist it. So if water cannot drain properly, it can leak through shingles and into your home. In winter, an ice dam, or water wall, can form on the roof eaves and cause water to back up. Quick action can melt the ice dam and allow water to reach the gutter before it ends up penetrating the roof, saving you hundreds of dollars in repairs from water damage.

Ice-melt sleeve
Ice melt
Snow rake
Ice-melt discs

Instructions

- 1
  Fill an ice-melt sleeve full of ice melt by scooping the ice melt into the opening of the porous tube. Tie the ice-melt sleeve securely shut.
- 2
  Pull snow from the eaves with a snow rake to expose ice underneath the snow. Doing so allows you to speed the ice-melting process by giving the ice-melting chemicals in the ice-melt sleeve full contact with the ice.
- 3
  Toss the ice-melt sleeve onto the roof so that the sleeve drapes over the ice dam. Ensure that the end of the ice-melt sleeve touches the gutter. Wait about 30 minutes while the ice-melt sleeve's contents react with the ice, creating a channel through which water can flow.
- 4
  Toss ice-melt discs onto the ice dam as needed. After about 30 minutes, the ice-melt discs will melt holes in the ridges of ice, creating small valleys through which backed-up water can escape.

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