Icicles of roof can be really damaging and there could be several causes of icicles on roof but before getting to know how to stop icicles from forming on your roof, you must know what exactly icicles are? and what damage they can do to your roof.

Icicles are the drip offs that are created by the sun heat after a heavy snowfall. When heat comes inside your home and the snow on your roof melts, it starts to drip off and when it meets again the freezing temperature it takes up the form of frozen droplets. New drips run along the sides of these icicles-in-the-making and then freeze as they move downward, causing the icicles to grow in size.

Ice dams are the major cause of icicles on your roof. Ice dams are formed along the edges of roof and the worst ice dams are formed when a deep snow is followed by a colder outer weather.

Large falling icicles, knocked down by wind or loosened by a spell of sunshine, can damage anything in their path with their heavy weight and pointed tips so it is necessary to take steps to prevent icicles forming on roof. However, it could be a DIY job for many people but most of the roofing experts know the solutions to this problem for the longer term so it is advisable to contact a trusted roofing contractor. A best roofer knows that the way to stop ice dams from forming is to keep the entire roof cold.

To keep your roof cold, increasing the thickness of insulation on the attic floor, and installing a continuous soffit and ridge vent system will block all the air leaks leading to the attic from living space below.

Shoveling snow and chipping ice from the edge of the roof is a never recommended solution because people attack heaps of snow with hammers, shovels, ice picks, homemade snow rakes, crowbars, and chain saws! Although this method takes away all the ice from the roof but unfortunately, this method threatens life, limb, and roof.

Instead of complete roof replacement or roof repair, the ideal solution is to ventilate, insulate and water-proof your roof. Insulation keeps heat from living space away from attic and ventilation removes the heat by evenly keeping the roof deck cool which prevents the snow on roof from melting while waterproof underlayment such as water seal if laid across the roof before roof shingles will prevent the leaks from dams. All these three options work together and can be easily added to existing attic.