Frozen Gutters - Stopgap Solution for Mitigating Damage?

Our gutters have frozen over and we have water seeping into both floors of our townhouse. On the top floor it’s just the window frame, but the ground floor it’s going into the (original 1907 plaster!) walls and ceiling.

We know we need to have the gutters repaired/replaced by a professional, but everyone I have called said we’ve got to wait until the ice melts before they can do anything. Which means living with the leaks and additional damage they’ll be causing until that happens.

Anyone have suggestions on ways to mitigate the damage in the meantime? Looking at the forecast it doesn’t look like things are going to warm up enough to melt the ice for at least another week! Thanks in advance!

Guest User | 4 years and 3 months ago

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andriywww1990 | 4 years and 3 months ago

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this is not going to be easy for OP but if it happen to me here, i would take my arc welder, clamp the ground lead to the top and make sure it is tight so it does not arc and burn the aluminum and i would take the electrode lead and clamp it to the bottom, tight. i would then turn the arc welder on low and see if it was heating the gutter. i would wait a little while. if nothing i would kick it up a few amps, progressively until it heated the gutter.

i saw a guy do this in wilmington north carolina where they did not always have cellars but had “open crawl” spaces or on the old houses, the plumbing was added to the outside of the houses. they can do this because it does not freeze too often but when it did, they used arc welders to thaw the pipes. i once had an attachment for mine made for that pupose.

gtinsouthslope | 4 years and 3 months ago

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For the past several years I’ve been using a snow rake to remove snow from the roof of my back of the house extension. (I think I learned about it on the previous version of this forum.). Removing the snow from the edge of the roof with the rake works because it helps create a path for the melting snow to drain through the gutter instead of down the interior wall. I highly recommend giving the snow rake a try if you’re physically able to and the roof line is low enough to reach with the rake. I ordered one online from a hardware store.

hkapstein | 4 years and 3 months ago

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Nice tip, never heard of that.

Guest User | 4 years and 3 months ago

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you can break up an ice dam by filling a pantyhose leg with snomelt and laying it perpendicular to the gutter at 18″ increments. it’ll break it into chunks. it should overhang a bit.

Guest User | 4 years and 3 months ago

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you can break up an ice dam by filling a pantyhose leg with snomelt and laying it perpendicular to the gutter at 18″ increments. it’ll break it into chunks. it should overhang a bit.

restorationcontractor | 4 years and 3 months ago

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As a stopgap to get the ice out you could run a hose to the roof connected to your sink faucet.

Most hardware stores and plumbing supply’s will sell a “portable washing machine connector” which has a clamp on fitting that goes over your sink faucet spigot on one end and a threaded hose coupling on the other.

stevecym | 4 years and 3 months ago

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This has been addressed here before. They sell the cables at hd. My neighbor has a gutter that gets no sun and has to use one.

Also. When my gutters clog, the water goes over the lip and between the roof membrane and the top of the rear wall – and appears in our kitchen down below. I ran flashing cement over the rear edge of the roof and into the gutter from end to end and pressed fiberglass tape into it and bingo. I have to keep that covered with silver paint or it wears thin.

hkapstein | 4 years and 3 months ago

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Consider using an ice melt cable.