Should You Break Hanging Icicles Off Your Gutters

Note icicles hanging off most but not all of the gutters.

Should you break hanging icicles off your gutters.

Is the harsh ottawa winter causing you to have icicles hanging off the eaves of your roof. The reason is that the icicles often form on your shingles. If those don t prevent the icicles on gutters you may want to consider heating cables. If you re a homeowner who recently installed gutter guards and woke up to see icicles hanging from your gutters you re probably wondering what the heck is going on especially if this is the first time it has happened.

Remember with accumulation in your gutters icicles will form without gutter guards installed but the formation of icicles on homes with gutter guards are not exempt from them either. Here is some information about why and how icicles form and what you can do to mitigate the problem. But to answer your good question no. If you rip the icicle off one of two bad things will happen.

The shingles are what the icicles are attached to. This is a short term solution that prevents very large icicles from forming. It is inevitable you will always get icicles but the guard will protect the gutter cavity from filling and freezing by allowing the snow to melt and drip off. What you should know about ice dams and icicles.

This will leave you with fewer to no icicles to break off the gutters in the first place. Icicles that hang from your home s gutters are the kind that you need to monitor. Assuming you live in a house and not in a cave you should not knock the icicles off your roof. If you have inadequate insulation or improper ventilation in your roof and soffits the heated air will escape.

Icicles can reach a tremendous weight easily heavy enough to kill you or cause serious injury if they were to fall on you. Are you concerned they may fall off causing damage and possible injury. If you have icicles that are hanging from second floor eaves or gutters and you wish to remove these yourself then obtain a long pole that will reach this height and keep you from being to close to falling ice then go ahead. Firstly it s important not to confuse ice damming and icicles.

Making sure the gutters are clean and checking to make sure you have adequate insulation and ventilation is key for long term mitigation. In addition to the icicles you see hanging from the side of your house another problem homeowners face in the winter is the formation of ice dams ice dams are gathered ice either at the gutter or soffit which like a dam traps water behind it where it pools up on your roof causing unseen damage to walls ceilings and insulation.