Icicles Are Not an Innocent Symbol of Winter

February 15th, 2010

Ah yes- we all grew up in a Winter Wonderland illustrated so beautifully by Currier & Ives, Norman Rockwell, and other famous American folk artists. Now that we’re grown-ups, we can still enjoy winter but also understand that those icicles that look so charming on the front of Christmas cards can actually present a real threat to the safety and well-being of our families. If you are a business owner, you can be sued for injuries resulting from ice dams and their accompanying icicles. Lest you think these threats are an exaggeration, here are some very real dangers posed by icicles.

Injuries Big and Small

Yes, an icicle could impale a human being or poke out an eye and therefore be used as a weapon causing injury, but the most common harm caused by icicles are nothing out of a whodunit: rather, it is caused by the ice simply falling on an unsuspecting passerby. Children are most often hurt when they try to intentionally knock down these shards, not realizing that what they are doing is really dangerous!

Small injuries might include things such as abrasions, cuts, and bruises. But as you would expect, the bigger and heavier the icicles: the greater the chances of ending up with a much more serious injury.

Serious injuries include broken bones and even brain damage. Icicles can become virtual pillars when left to themselves, and some can weigh up to 50 pounds. If one of those monsters falls from just a single story high, it will inevitably cause a very tragic injury.

Death

In the first week of 2010, a woman in Russia was killed by a falling icicle as she walked along a sidewalk. These incidents, though rare, are nevertheless a very real threat. Icicles are attached to ice dams; and it is those ice dams slipping and falling off roofs that actually cause the most deaths. A slab of ice can easily weigh in the hundreds of pounds and will crush any human being unlucky enough to be in its path.

Romantic as icicles are, they are not the innocuous symbols of winter we thought they were when we were children. The very best defense against the threats from icicles and ice dams is to prevent them in the first place. Installing one of the many high-tech deicing solutions from Thermal Technologies will stop the development of these dangerous ice formations before they can get started. Contact Thermal Technologies today.

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True Life Stories: Ice Dams, Icicles, and Winter 2009-2010

February 1st, 2010

Those icicles hanging from your roof look so enchanting: indeed, for generations they have been an iconic symbol of winter. However, homeowners are finally waking up to the dangers ice dams and their accompanying icicles pose in both residential and commercial settings. Ice dams can literally weigh hundreds of pounds and when they fall from a building they can easily injure or even kill an unsuspecting person passing by. Here are a few true life stories that have happened so far this winter.

WISCONSIN: After Blizzard Allison hit the Green Bay area early in the season, the subsequent thaw then refreezing of snow on roofs caused extensive damage to many area homes throughout the vicinity: one roofing contractor reported that water from an ice dam (backed up into a house through the roofing shingles) caused an estimated $25,000 damage to one room alone.

MINNESOTA: A Wal-Mart in St Paul dealt with a major ice dam problem in December. A slab of ice weighing several tons threatened the safety of customers and took several days for professionals to remove. Outside the walls of the store, icicles stretching from the roof to the ground made from several additional tons of ice created thick columns that also threatened to topple onto customers. An estimated 1100 to 1400 pounds of ice lined the roof plane of one home, eventually causing thousands of dollars in damage to the home’s interior.

NEVADA: Massive ice dams and icicles in Mankato are literally tearing gutters away from homes all across town, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

RUSSIA: A woman in St Petersburg was killed by a falling icicle on January 19, 2010. Although hers is the first fatality, city officials report that an additional 10 people have been seriously injured by icicles falling from tall commercial buildings.

This is just a small sampling of the bodily and property damage inflicted by ice dams and their accompanying icicles this winter alone. All of these incidents could have been prevented had the home or business owners exercised a little foresight and prevention preparation during the warmer months.

What you can do to prevent ice dams

1. Add one or more layers of insulation to your roof to help minimize the temperature difference between the attic and the roof’s exterior.

2. Make sure all of your rain gutter components are clear and operational.

3. Contact the experts at Thermal Technologies for information regarding their state of the art ice dam prevention products.

Don’t become a True Life Story this winter: make the danger from ice dams at your home or business a thing of the past.

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Clearing Ice Dams Yourself is a Risky Proposition

January 21st, 2010

Because of the current economic crisis, millions of American homeowners have become Do-It-Yourselfers (DIY) around the house in order to save a few bucks here and there. If you are a penny-pinching homeowner, you may be tempted to break up ice dams on your roof yourself; however, you should know that your decision to take this chore on may lead to serious injury or even death.

Dangerous DIY options for the removal of ice dams

Enter “ice dam removal tips” into any search engine and you will be literally bombarded with DIY options. Although some of these informational sites are responsible enough to stress the dangers of their own suggestions, many of them do not! Here are some of the most common ways to remove ice dams that you’ll likely run across:

  • Getting on the roof and using an ice chipper to break up the blockage
  • Using a snow rake to remove excess snow in order to prevent further blockage
  • Standing on the ground or ladder and using an ice chipper to break up the blockage
  • Applying salt or deicing chemicals on the area to melt the ice
  • Using a blow torch to melt the blockage

Of course there are plenty more “suggestions,” all of which involve a significant amount of risk.

What are the risks of DIY ice dam removal?

Risk of injury to you: Let’s take a look at why some of these solutions are inherently high-risk. First of all, it’s never a good idea to get on your roof at all in the wintertime due to the slippery surfaces that can cause a fall. Ice dams themselves can weigh several hundred pounds: if they detach and slip out from under you, you will not only fall but stand a good chance of being crushed as well. Chipping away or using a blowtorch from the ground or a ladder is no safer: the dam can easily dislodge, fall, take you with it, and crush you. And don’t forget the perils of falling icicles!

Risk of injury to your home: Using an ice chipper in an attempt to clear ice dams may not only hurt you: it can also destroy nearby shingles or damage your home’s exterior. Salt and deicing chemicals may melt a little of the ice, but they are rarely a reliable solution. Over the remainder winter, these substances will cause shingle and gutter corrosion; and when the snow melts, the salt or chemicals will run onto your landscaping and wreak environmental havoc.

What should I do?

If you have dangerous ice dams and icicles that you want cleared out this winter, you should contact a roof professional. As with just about anything, prevention is worth a pound of cure: be prepared before the winds howl next winter by:

  • Adding one or more layers of insulation to your roof
  • Clearing your gutters, downspouts, and drains from debris
  • Contacting Thermal Technologies to have highly effective ice dam prevention products installed on your roof.

Don’t become a statistic: the allure of saving a few dollars by doing your own ice dam removal is simply not worth the risk.

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The 6 Do’s and Don’ts of Icicle Safety

December 23rd, 2009

Every winter local news programs often seem to include some stories about accidental icicle injuries. Although these icy spears are looked upon fondly by romantics, they can actually be extremely hazardous to your family’s health. If you are a business owner, icicles left unchecked that fall on passersby leave you vulnerable to lawsuits.

Here are the 6 Do’s and Don’ts of icicle safety to help keep your own family and the general public from having close encounters of the unfortunate kind with these symbols of winter.

  1. DO educate your children about the dangers of knocking down and playing with icicles. Although an icicle cannot impale a skull, it can cause blunt trauma injury and do other kinds of bodily damage. Teach kids that icicles should never be used as toys or weapons for make-believe. Even if you don’t have icicles on your own home, your kids are likely to encounter them wherever they go.
  2. DON’T leave icicles to continue growing. Large icicles can literally weigh hundreds of pounds and they will inevitably become more hazardous when left unchecked. When removing ones that have already formed, the acknowledged safest method is to saw them off as if they were a block of wood. Take care not to stand under them, and avoid getting too close to the ice dams that formed the icicles in the first place.
  3. DO cordon off areas and place warning signs underneath the places where icicles have formed or where ice dams along the gutters make the falling of large chunks of ice likely. This is an especially important precaution if you own a commercial building.
  4. DON’T try to get up on the roof of your home or other building to remove ice dams yourself: the benefits are simply not worth the risk of accident. Make sure to contact a snow removal professional instead.
  5. DO prevent such problems in the future by installing specially-designed heat panels along the edges of your roof. Coiled wires simply won’t do the trick: call the professionals at Therma Tech instead to see what their state-of-the-art systems can do for your home or business.
  6. DON’T put roof heating installation off for another year and hope that no accidents will happen before then. The safest way to avoid injuries from icicles is to prevent their growth in the first place.

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