HOME MAINTENANCE Don't knock icicles; instead, try preventive action

Knocking icicles down could do more harm than good, a roofer warns.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Chances are, the sight of ice glazing tree branches and dripping off gutters makes you think you ought to be doing something about it.
Resist the urge.
Trying to remove ice from roofs and plants can cause bigger problems, experts say. You can damage shingles, break off branches and threaten your own safety.
Icicles are almost inevitable this time of year, especially when sunlight or warmer temperatures cause thawing that is followed by a freeze. However, icicles can be symptoms of ice dams, masses of ice that form along the edges of roofs as melting snow collects and refreezes. That ice and the water it produces when it melts can work back up under the shingles and seep into the house.
Preventing troubles
Bob Hart, residential manager for Branch Roofing Inc. in Akron, said his company has been deluged with phone calls about ice dams, including one from a woman who had just put on a new roof. The installer -- a man who moonlighted as a roofer and didn't work for Branch -- had neglected to install a waterproof membrane under the shingles, Hart said. Water was pouring into the woman's house.
"When it's too late, there's nothing we can do at this point," Hart said. He said the key is preventing ice buildup: through proper attic insulation, which keeps warm air from rising to the roof and making the snow above melt faster; good ventilation, which lets warm air escape the attic; clean, properly working gutters and downspouts, which carry away melting snow so it won't puddle and refreeze; and a layer between the roof deck and the shingles to keep water out of the house.
If you have a big ice buildup and you live in a one-story house, some roofers say you can use a roof rake to remove the top layer of snow while you're standing on the ground. Sprinkle on calcium chloride, a de-icer that won't harm shingles.
However, Hart recommends calling a professional. "You want a low-impact type of service," he said. "You wouldn't want to be up there with hammers and torches."
He also doesn't recommend trying to knock off the icicles. The only exception, he said, is if they're so heavy that they threaten to bring down a gutter, and even then he'd be hesitant. Icicles and ice dams can weigh hundreds of pounds, enough to injure or kill someone standing below. Use a long stick, stay well away from the icicles, and know where they're going to fall.
Tending to trees
Just as ice can weigh down gutters, it can weigh down the branches on trees and shrubs and even make the plants bend over. Sometimes branches can break under the weight, but otherwise the ice won't do the plants any harm, according to Tom Dayton, owner of Dayton Nursery in Norton, Ohio.
Shrubs such as arborvitae, rhododendron and juniper and trees such as white birch are particularly prone to stooping under the weight of ice, Dayton said. "In almost every case, the plants will come back up," he said.
If not, Dayton said, you can straighten them and tie them loosely with jute twine on a warm winter day or in early spring.
When ice-covered branches snap, Dayton recommends waiting until a day when the temperature rises above freezing, then cleaning up the breaks by making fresh pruning cuts. If a tree or shrub loses any major branches, he said, cut them back all the way to the trunk. "They will regrow," he said.