The Causes of Ice Dams and Icicles in Your Gutter System

1.    "The expensive gutter guard systems claim they can prevent icicle formation. Can they really?"

 

The simple answer is No.

Icicles form when there is a temperature differential between the surface of your home's roof and the gutters.
That heavy top "shield" or "helmet" on your gutters creates a situation ripe for icicle and ice formation.

These closed systems are made from aluminum, and the aluminum is a very different material from the shingles
on your roof. Your roof warms up from the sun's rays and begins to melt the snow, but the closed aluminum gutter
top stays below the freezing mark. The water trickles across the top, freezing as it goes over, never making it
around the bend and into the opening where it would normally go. It drips straight downward, thus creating icicles.

The Sensible Gutter Guard solution from Razorback Residential Service is a system for the real world your home
exists in, not the "perfect" world of a brochure photograph. We don't guarantee things that aren't true.

Here are several pictures from local homes that have closed-gutter systems installed: