Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Winter can be a magical season for its ability to evoke stunning images and lifelong memories. The spectacle of falling snow or glittering icicles has made its way on to countless holiday cards and other seasonal imagery, and there’s nothing cozier than viewing all that magic from the comfort of your living room. But for every beauty there’s a beast — and in this case, that beast is the threat of ice damage to your home.
Pipe Problems
The plumbing system can be the first part of your home to suffer in the grip of Old Man Winter. Once the outdoor temperature settles below freezing — even if it’s just overnight — any pipes running along exterior walls can freeze up. The next thing you know, you turn on your faucet and the resulting pressure change causes the frozen pipe to burst, forcing you to spend money not on Christmas presents, but on plumbing repairs. (If your rooms are flooded, you’ll have to put all-new furnishings on your list for Santa as well.) Leaky pipes can actually freeze entire walls and ceilings. Get your plumbing inspected right now so you know whether you need to get the pipes fixed or wrapped before the next big freeze.
Gutter Gripes
Icicles may look beautiful on tree branches, but if they’re hanging from your gutters, things can get pretty ugly for you. Oddly enough, this is a situation where your home’s insulation actually causes ice problems instead of preventing them. That’s because your roof gives off a certain amount of ambient heat, which temporarily melts the ice and snow up there. But the water freezes up again before it can run off of the roof, causing ice dams to block up your gutters and make them unable to do their job. To make matters worse, the heavy, pointed icicles hanging off of the gutters could break off spontaneously, posing a serious danger to anyone standing below.
Once you’ve got ice dams in your gutters, there isn’t much you can do to remove them safely and effectively. Salt, ice picks and other tactics may only do structural harm or cause injury. Fortunately, with the right preventatives in place you don’t have to worry about this nuisance occurring at all. For starters, you can exercise common sense by removing snow from your roof before it can turn to ice — but you may have to act quickly!
Better yet, you can install heated gutter guards that run along the perimeter of the roof, such as the Gutter Helmet offered by Moonworks. These products keep the gutters just warm enough so that ice can’t freeze into a solid, immovable mass, keeping your gutters functional even during the winter months.
Take Action to Protect your Home
A little forethought goes a long way toward preventing ice-related home problems when the mercury drops. Schedule that plumbing inspection, and order a Gutter Helmet from Moonworks by calling 1-800-975-6666. After all, the fewer major repairs you have to make, the more money you have left over for presents!