Icicles, ice dams and flooding, oh my

Following this winters dramatic freeze and thaw cycle, potholes arent the only seasonal worry on the minds of Edmontonians.

Fluctuating temperatures and the recent heavy snowfall has many city residents waging battles against ice dams and icicles, which can cause flooding and structural damage.

"This year is particularly bad," said Marty Hawley, owner of Martram Construction Ltd, a company that specializes in home renovation and flood clean up.

"Every time it goes through that [freeze and thaw] cycle, [ice] builds up and doesnt have the chance to thaw out completely. And then it freezes right away again, and it just builds up."

Chris Fraser is the owner of Excel Roofing, which specializes in ice dam removal.

He said this winter has been particularly busy for his companywith four to six calls coming in every day.

And its likely only going to get busier, said Fraser.

"With this big snow and a big melt, thats going to double for sure."

Fraser said ice dams are a major concern for older houses, which often lack a key layer of ice and water shield protection beneath the shingles.

"A lot of the older houses [just have] an old thin tar paper," he said, "if thats even under there."

Hawley agrees.

"This time of year, especially when you have freeze and thaw, you have extensive ice build up for the old houses. Theres not proper ventilation and theres so much heat loss... that ice dams build up... back into the eaves troughs and leak inside the houses."

And ice dams arent the only problem.

Icicles can also cause a lot of damage whether they are falling or not.

Often weighing up to 5 kg each, heavy icicles suspended from a rooftop can dent or warp eavestroughsor pull them off completely.

There are some things you can do to help prevent trouble, says Hawley.

"Try to keep as much snow off the bottom four feet of your roof as you can," he said.

You can also try knocking down larger icicles with a rake, he added.

As for worries about where all this snow and ice is going to go once the weather warms up, Hawley has one more tip.

"If the snow melts gradually, [the risk of flooding] will just go down gradually," said Hawley. "But if theres a really long warm spell and we have a foot and a half, two feet of snow and people dont keep [it] shovelled away from the edge of their houses the possibility [of flooding] could be there."

"You cant predict mother nature - its gonna do what its gonna do."