A downspout is an integral part of a home s gutter system.
Frozen gutter downspout.
The downspout is responsible for taking the water collected by the gutters and dispersing it out and away from the home s foundation.
Over time the ice may back up into your gutters themselves thereby creating extra weight on your entire guttering system.
If there is a large amount of snow on the ground that is covering the bottom mouth of the downspout.
Over time the ice can back up into your gutters creating additional weight on your entire gutter system.
Yet another recommends running electrical heat tape to prevent melting.
It will cause your downspouts to freeze.
Some say just leave it alone.
You can also use a hose connected to a hot water tap to spray water on the outside of your frozen downspout.
Unfortunately dealing with frozen gutters is rarely simple or inexpensive.
If you live in a colder part of the world you may run into a situation where your downspouts become frozen.
Whether some of your downspouts remained clogged with debris when winter hit or your gutters are just reacting to all the snow and cold here s how to manage them.
A bit of warm water should be enough to break up frozen chunks and clear the blockage.
When winter storms hit gutters and downspouts sometimes freeze into solid blocks of ice and homeowners understandably worry about gutters pulling away from the roofs or ice dams forming.
Right about now with all the below freezing temperatures snow melting and re freezing are plummeting michigan there are a lot of gutters out there that are frozen solid.
Looks like the freezing is backing up to the gutter making me concerned the ice build up could overload the gutter with weight and cause it to pull away from the roof.
The only sure fire way to melt the ice in frozen gutters is to hire a professional.
However consistently frozen or frozen solid downspouts may require immediate attention especially if weather conditions will be less than ideal for the foreseeable future.
This can lead to your gutter and downspout tearing away from your roof or siding leading to more costly and larger problems such as water leaks and improper drainage.
Frozen downspouts occur during the winter during or after winter weather occurs.
I ve got a frozen downspout on the corner of my house due to multiple high snowfalls this year crazy low temps from polar vortexes indiana.
On line advice about frozen downspouts varies.
Though the results are guaranteed the cost can run you several hundred dollars and if any residual water stays inside your.
Consistently frozen downspouts require immediate attention.
Frozen downspouts can cause costly damage.
Should i try to thaw out the downspout.
If the ground is safe and level grab a ladder and pour warm water into the top of the frozen downspout or gutter.
Others recommend taking ice melt to the gutters see below a few say heat the gutters to clear them.
There are a few likely scenarios that can cause ice accumulation in downspouts.
