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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 14 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
109 of 112 found the following review helpful:
 Make your own! Nov 24, 2008
By K. Van Kainen
Why spend $10 for a nylon sock for your roof? I made my own, using a package of knee-high nylons from the dollar store, de-icer and a few lengths of rope (neither of which are included with this product anyway). My home-made versions work just as well, the nylons survived the entire winter intact (a pleasant surprise!) and the package of six nylon knee-high's only cost me a dollar! Save your money.....make your own!
41 of 46 found the following review helpful:
 We Have Used These Socks On Our Home And They Work! Jan 04, 2008
By Dick Pennington
"Dick"
We have found socks with non-staining ice melt are the only way we can prevent ice dams forming above our dining room crank out casement windows. We have always had a problem since these windows were installed to replace a picture window that failed. When they were installed we also had leaf guards installed on the gutters. This only added to the ice dam problem. The overhang is less than 4 inches, as ice sickles form they drip back to the windows. The water comes out under the trim and windowsill, run down through the ceiling onto sliding glass doors and into the hot tub room, what a mess. Now we install 8 socks above the windows before the ice dams and ice sickles start to form, problem corrected!
15 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 Only thing missing is the throw chord Jan 20, 2011
By Melissa J. Newman
"msolomon25"
Is this product worth $10? Yes. Is it worth $30? No. The product is a very simple concept, it is a long thin bag that you will with ice melt to melt ice and snow from the roof in a channel that lead to the gutter or off the roof. Yes, you can make the same thing with pantyhose and cord, and in an emergency that would work. But if you are trying to do preventative setup (putting it up at the beginning of the season and planning to keep up there through the winter season, this product is worth the money. This product should last several years. The pantyhose would probably only last one season. The only problem is that the throw chord that the description talks about is not included. Just a small handle chord at the end. Also, the Velcro close strap is not attached to the bag. It is just wrapped around the bag. It would have been nice if the Velcro closure was attached like the Velcro closure is attached on an umbrella.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 How to use a nylon stocking version of the ice stock Feb 07, 2011
By Ali Julia
I have two areas with ice dams - the top of the dormer and a the steep lower roof.
RoofIce Dam Breaker makes a big heavy ice stock. It you can safely get it to the roof it works fine. However I needed to solve the ice dam problem after 60" of snow already fell, make it impossible to get on a ladder safely. Raising the big stock full of salt to the top of the dormer roof turned out to be very difficult. I was able to put it on top of the ice dam on the steep lower roof, but it slid off under its own weight. The sock is too heavy to stay on roof with steep angle. However, I found a solution that worked for both of my problem areas.
I took a nylon stocking, filled it with calcium chloride to form a sausage about 4" long. To make it easier to fill the stocking I took a 16 oz yogurt container and cut out its bottom. This made a nice sturdy funnel which kept the top of the stocking wide open for pouring the calcium chloride.
I tied the top of the stocking onto itself and then tied it to a garden thread so I could retrieve the stocking later (who wants a roof full of stocking?). The thread turned out to be helpful on my failed attempts, when the sock wound up in the bushes and I had to pull it out and try again.
Then I took an extension pole used for a roof rake. I replaced the big rake with a small brush so it would be easier to hoist it up to the level of the roof of my dormer where my major ice dam is located.
My first few attempts were to fold the sock over the brush and dump it on the roof. But that did not work as either the stocking fell before it reached the desired spot, or I could not disengage the brush without knocking the sock down.
Finally, the solution that worked was using the pole and the brush as a lever. I put the thread attached to the sock over the brush, and raised the brush to the roof positioning it where I wanted the sock to be located. The stocking meanwhile was laying on the ground. Then, using the brush as my lever, I pulled on the thread to raise the stocking to the roof. This worked very well the first time I tried! [see attached customer image]
My second problem area, is the steep lower roof. I could not get even a small stocking to stay on the lower roof as it has a very steep angle. However, my dormer windows are above the ice dam, so I suspended a stocking with ice melt on a thread from a window. [see attached customer image]
I also want to make a note that the nylon gets stuck to the ice. When I tried repositioning one of the socks it would not budge. The gravity makes it drops when the salt melts the ice around it, but repositioning the sock to another spot turned out to impossible because it is stuck to the ice, and pulling it might tear the stocking dropping all the salt at once rather than via slow release.
24 hours later I saw that the ice stocking built a channel. I can see the trapped water coming out of the channel. [see attached photo of the same ice dam 24 hours later]
The idea behind this method is not to melt the entire ice dam, but to give water an outlet from under the ice dam. So all you need is a small channel. The water will go where there is the less amount of resistance.
2/28/2011
Another update after yet another snow storm.
This time I put the sock on the roof of the dormer before the snow. Today as the snow began melting (and normally this is when my problems begin), I noticed that the biggest icicle is formed right under where the sock is placed on the edge of the roof. The unexpected bonus is that the salty water from this big icicle is dripping on the lower roof and pouring into the rain gutter. The rain gutter (which in the past was totally uncased in ice) did not freeze right under the big salty icicle, thus allowing the water to drain into the gutter.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Sock disappointment Dec 15, 2011
By W.S. Bones
"wsbones"
I thought I had the solution to ice damming when I put the sock in the roof valley where I normally get ice build up. It was Dec 14 so I figured we would soon have snow in upstate NY and I would be ready. The sock was full with about 20 pounds of calcium chloride pellets. The next morning the sock was empty. It had rained a little, and all the pellets had dissolved and washed away. Maybe it would be better to wait until the ice dam is forming to put the sock out, or maybe just throw some ice melt on to the roof area from the upstairs bathroom window.
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