Do dark-colored gutters prevent ice dams?
Background: I’d been fighting with the previous-owner’s multi-section aluminum gutters for several years, glomming Geocel into the joints whenever a new leak would appear. These gutters also drained into the uphill side of the foundation, right at the only leaky spot in the basement.
After putting up with them for 11 years, I’d had enough.
So, last spring I had a local gutters-only company come out with their lovely gutter-making truck and roll out a pair of nice heavy-gauge continuous aluminum gutters, with the downspouts on the downhill side of the house. They look great, and they’re very sturdy. The basement is now dry.
We switched from brown to white, since brown gutters were “so 80’s”.
This winter we had big ice dams, for the first time in 12 years. We’ve had a bit more snow this winter than most, but nothing spectacularly different. I eventually got up there, chipped away the ice and installed some electric heating tape. At 600-watts x2, I’ve just been not looking at the electric bills.
So… could the brown gutters have been collecting enough solar energy to keep the gutters melted all these years? I’m lacking for other theories, but this one sounds sketchy.
Replies
in short----no.
my last house had white gutters--this one has brown gutters-- if anything i have more ice in the brown ones
stephen
Thanks. That was the data point I needed to falsify my hypothesis. :)The heating cable stays up, and I won't bother painting the gutters!
Ventilate your roof properly (continous soffit and ridge vents) and you can unplug that money-sucking cable.
Riversong HouseWright
Design * * Build * * Renovate * * ConsultSolar & Super-Insulated Healthy Homes
Thanks, good information. I suspect the ridge vent was improperly done, as the attic retains far too much heat in the summer. The house was built with modular construction, and so effectively has a double ridge-beam, but from what I can tell from the inside there's little to no exposure from the inside out through the ridge vent. I planned to re-do it this summer (I'm expecting to have to trim back the sheathing an extra 1 3/4" on each side) to address the heat issue, but if it's going to help with ice damming too that's going to move it right up to the top of the list.If anybody reading this has recommendations for ridge vent caps that can reasonably handle a 'double-wide' ridge vent I'd love to hear it.
Marginal.
More than likely it is the kind of weather t5his winter. We have had a lot of snow/minor thaw-snow/minor thaw-snow/minor thaw-snow/minor thaw...
The kind of thing that can make ice damning worse.
but in a climate like the high desert where solar heat gain is greater and temperatures colder, the white gutter could make it happen
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