Frozen rain gutters

[no_hypocrisy]

I'm in New Jersey. We've had seven snow storms in one month.

Our house is three stories if you count the attic. The rain gutters are clogged and covered with between 1 and 1-1/2 inches of solid ice.

I'm concerned about how much weight the roof can hold and with the ice-on-the-gutters/roof's edges, the snow has nowhere to go even if the temperature goes above freezing. And the roof is original, meaning the one the house was built with in the Forties.

Is it a good idea to hire someone to get rid of the ice?

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

1. Check with your home insurance agent about your concern.

That is always a good idea when you can get to it easy enough but yer talking 20-25 maybe 30 feet high.
This time of year you are talking a major expense . Any other problems like that in your neighborhood ?

And have you noticed any water damage walls and windows or apparent sagging ceilings?

Talk to your insurance agent ,if you are terribly worried have a roofer look it over on a advisement estimate.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Thank you for a lot of good advice.

[CTyankee]

3. these are called "ice dams" and everyone I know has them here in CT!

I have a flat roof on my house's addition and had 4 feet of snow on it! Roofs had started collapsing here in the state so I called a roofer who was not busy at this time of year and he and a friend came over and cleared the roof of all but the frozen layer of thin ice at the bottom (he didn't want to damage the roof by chopping at the ice). They both worked over an hour and charged me $200. I found out that that was a bargain considering how much roof clearers were able to get recently!

The peace of mind made it worthwhile...