Home › Learn From The Pros › 3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Fix Ice Dams with Rock Salt 3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Fix Ice Dams with Rock Salt February 3, 2021 Ice damming is a common problem for many homeowners during the cold season. This occurs when the snow buildup on your roof melts, runs down the system, and refreezes along the eaves and gutters. The good news is that there are a couple of simple and effective ways to deal with (or even prevent) this issue. Using rock salt, however, is NOT one of them. Advantage Seamless Gutters, the trusted local gutter installers, shares why it’s never a good idea to use rock salt to deal with ice dams. Rock salt is not actually effective. Rock salt can cut snow and ice buildup, but only at temperatures down to 20° F. This means that it works only when the temperature is on the ‘warm side of freezing’. Anything colder than that makes rock salt ineffective. It is not a practical idea. A standard ice dam consists of hundreds of gallons of frozen water. Because of the sheer volume of this accumulated snow and ice, you’ll need to use a massive amount of rock salt to truly deal with the problem. What you should do instead is turn to a reliable local gutter company, like Advantage Seamless Gutters, for a more effective, worry-free solution. Rock salt can damage the nail heads in your roof. Your roof shingles are attached to your roof via nails. But when these roofing nails are exposed to rock salt, they may start to corrode. This not only causes unsightly rust stains and streaks on your roof, the nails can also rust enough to break. Once this happens, the shingles become loose, making them more susceptible to blow-offs. The Safer and Better Solution to Ice Dams Advantage Seamless Gutters is not only your premier gutters replacement service provider–we are also your go-to expert in professional ice dam removal. Our trained and experienced team has all the right tools and equipment, plus the knowledge, to safely and efficiently remove snow and ice buildup along your roof and gutters. When you choose us for the job, you can keep your roofing and gutter system intact, while also extending their service life. Look no further than Advantage Seamless Gutters for all your ice dam removal needs. We proudly serve the areas in and around Brainerd and Baxter, MN. Call us today at 218.558.0575 or fill out this contact form to schedule your consultation.