How to Make an Ice Melt Sock
Ice buildup or ice dam formation on the roof of a home is a typical problem in areas of the country with long, cold winters. There are several solutions to this problem including applying salt, chlorine or other ice-melting chemicals to the roof. But applying the chemicals to the roof on a regular basis is inconvenient and unsafe as well as potentially environmentally unfriendly; thus, the ice melt sock has been developed. An ice melt sock is a long, flexible, porous sock that is filled with safe ice melt chemicals and applied to areas where ice accumulates on the roof. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Pantyhose or other flexible, porous material
- Ice melt chemicals
- Wire ties or clamps (optional)
- 10-to-15-foot pieces of rope (The amount of rope pieces depends on the size of your roof)
Instructions
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Making an Ice Melt Sock
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Either cut the legs off of a pair of large pantyhose or cut your other ice sock material into 4-to-8-foot lengths.
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Fill the legs of the pantyhose or lengths of other material three-quarters full with a safe ice melt chemical. Do not use salt or chlorine as both of those are potentially hazardous to plants and animals. You can order environmentally friendly ice melt chemicals online or purchase them at your local hardware store, Walmart or Home Depot. Either tie off the end(s) or use a wire tie or clamp.
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Tie the 10-to-15-foot pieces of rope to the tied-off end of the ice melt sock. Now you have a rope lead for your ice melt sock so you can just toss it up on your roof close to the ice accumulation area and drag it into position. The ideal arrangement is an ice melt sock arranged vertically every 6 to 8 feet along the ice accumulation creating drainage channels for the snow and ice melt to reach your gutters and be drained off.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit snow image by Gina Smith from Fotolia.com
Comments
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Anonymous
Oct 27, 2011
What a polyester icesock poly weave material does is stay strong and flexible at - 20 degrees F while holding onto tiny ice melt crystals as small as 300 microns still allowing water to flow through the sock, creating a deicing solution that not only flows off the roof, it deices and opens up the gutters as well. Try that with ice melt pucks that slide off the roof or other flimsy materials that plug-up the gutters, I don't think so. -
The Canadian Mortgage Association recommends using an icesock with CMA ice melt crystals because it is the least destructive of all alternatives to immediately stop water leaks due to ice dams. Stop listening to the naysayeers about damage to the shingles, or roofing nails, or gutters. They simply want to you to spend a fortune on solutions that will really damage your roof permanently and expesively.
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Anonymous
Oct 05, 2011
An icesock can stop a roof leak in minutes versus finding a roof ice dam removal steam cleaner or torching the roof.
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Anonymous
Oct 05, 2011
The pantyhose ripped and exploded as soon as I picked it up.
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Rod Pennington
Oct 23, 2010
Panty hose ice melt socks are not a good idea for many reasons. Using panty hose to hold sharp edged crystals, throwing it on the roof to freeze and weather in the sun, and then dragging them into place, is going to insure you end up with shredded hose. This will insure plugged gutters which will make ice dams worse, not better.
