Beware of ice dams on your roof

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - All the snow and ice could be causing major problems. 

If you have long beautiful icicles on your roof, that's a tell-tale sign you may have ice dams forming.

They form when different temperatures on your roof melt the snow on top and then the water travels down, it pools up and freezes.

The dam will continue to grow as more snow and water works their way down your roof.

The ice dams can be very dangerous to both you and your home.

The weight of the ice when it breaks off can injure anyone walking under the area, and the ice can destroy your roof and cause water leaks into your home costing thousands of dollars to repair. 

Contractors say preventing the ice dams is key. 

"The prevention steps are really really easy," contractor Brett Hochhalter said. "You can go to your local hardware store, Ace Hardware, Lowe’s, Home Depot. They do sell the tape that you can put on the roof and all you do is plug it in and it melts the snow and ice down by your eaves, and in a lot of people, if you drive by some of the homes that are have had the problem, you can see that they kinda look like Christmas trees up on the roof deck and it helps to prevent ice damming where it melts the snow."

And if you live in the mountains or have a cabin there, it is extremely important to keep the large amounts of deep snow off the roof. This can be done using a cable to cut through the snow so that it falls off the roof.

This will get the heavyweight of the snow off your home and let you see if there are any ice dams forming. 

 However, as you can see this can be fairly dangerous. It may be better to hire someone to get the snow off for you.