This past summer, we finally replaced the 22 year roof on our house.  We knew this day would come when we bought the place six years ago,, but managed to delay until this year.  It was a great job, with a complete replacement of the existing roof, and it included a GAF certified weatherproofing system.  We also got a new set of gutters for both levels of the house.

So, I was a little surprised this year that we have some impressive icicles coming from our new gutters.  I suppose there's no reason why I should be surprised.  The typical way icicles form is that a warm attic heats up the roof, which melts that lowest layer of snow.  The water flows down the slope and reaches the eaves and gutters.  Of course, these are not insulated and thus the water re-freezes.  As the winter drones on, especially if you have a day or two of warming in the middle of the season, the water -> slope -> refreeze trend continues and you end up with the ice hanging from the gutters.  It's not too bad and hopefully much of it will be gone this weekend as we have a week or so of warming into the lower 40s.  But the point is, a new roof has nothing to do with the icicles-- it's the attic.

So, the plan for 2011 will include a look at the attic.  It should be well ventilated, since the roofing project included a ridge vent and the eave vents should be undamaged.  But, we haven't looked up there for anything but the most preliminary look, and, we should do all we can to keep the attic cold in the winter.  In fact, according to the government, they are looking for an R value of 49 here in the great white north (see http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/building_america/26450.pdf from the DOE for details).  

Another thing I want to do this year is get the iRobot gutter cleaner.  It's a great idea, especially if you are not a fan of heights.  You place this bugger in the gutter channel, turn it on and it moves forward, sweeping the junk out of the gutters and ensuring a clean channel for the fall and spring.  It's a time saver that I think will be worth every penny.

Posted by Caeli at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I came downstairs one morning last March to find water dripping out of the light fixture in the first floor hallway. There was already a pretty large puddle on the floor. "That can't be good,"  I thought.  
There was also a new crack in the living room ceiling - the newly drywalled post-remodel living room ceiling, I might add.  Then we found water leaking in several window, including some of the new ones that hadn't been properly caulked, and an old one in our master bedroom which was right in line with a huge line of melting ice coming off the roof at the back of the house.

We know the roof needs replacement soon, but there was something about this sudden onslaught of snow-melt that made realize we needed some instant action to prevent a deluge. The problem was easily identified by my dad, who is no stranger to this occurance: we had ice dams on the roof,
and the melting snow was not able to run off.  Instead it was pushed back under the shingles and
into whatever available nook and cranny it could find. 

A particularly nasty ice dam formed on the front porch roof and was apparently responsible for pushing the water back through the wall and over the ceiling of the front hallway, where it flowed out the next available opening: the light fixture.  Enough must have backed up in there to edge over onto the living room side where it was weakening (possibly swelling) the joint in the drywall.

The first step was turning off the circuit that fed the hallway light (which unfortunately also left the 1st floor powder room in darkness until things dried out), and disconnecting the fixture allowing more room for the water to escape and air in to dry out the wiring. 

Removing the Ice Dams from the Roof

The next step was not so easy as flipping a switch.  My dad came over with his tall ladder and a small axe, and I thought the house was going to fall down as he and my husband pounded away at the ice on the roof.  

At least, I thought, if they fall off the ladder it will be a soft landing in the several feet of snow that had fallen recently.  

They were able to break enough ice in the ice dams to make openings that allowed the melting snow a path off the edge of the roof.

What could we do to prevent ice dams from forming again, was the logical question.  One theory holds that inadequate insulation, or poor ventilation, in the attic can lead to this problem, because the heat escaping from the house causes ice to form under the nice blanket of snow above it.  Some melting and re-freezing happens, and layers of ice form around the edges of the roof.  

(That does not explain our porch roof ice dam though.) 

With the particular weather we had at the time we had the ice dam problem on our roof, I don't
know if anything we had done could have helped it.  There had been a huge snowfall followed by
uncommonly warm weather but it froze overnight, and this repeated occurance caused a huge ice dam build-up.  

This year we have not had the problem.  But my parents did on their house.  They have a unique
situation, because they have a wood-shingled roof.  Typically the wood-shingle roof is leak-
proof, because the nature of wood is to swell up when it gets wet, which formed a natural seal
against water penetrating into the house.  However in cold weather, that nice little feature did not work.  Ice dams formed, water backed up and the frozen wood shingles let it in.  My parents have an ice old Victorian house that they restored themselves, including turning the 3rd floor attic into two nice suites.  Water is not welcome on those ceilings, believe me.  

Preventing Ice Dams - The Technical Solution

So they have found the best way to prevent ice dams. I asked them for a description of the solution and got an interesting one from each point of view.

Mom: Daddy bought some kind of heating wire that will lay on the roof to keep the ice from
accumulating and backing up.  You can see this on the roof of some homes.  It looks like a zig zag wire across the roof.  In our case we'll just put it in the areas we need it.

Dad: I plan to install a heat tape to keep channels open under ice that may form on the roof edge.  It is applied in a hill and dale manner.  Then it is attached to a transformer and plugged into a grounded outlet.  Some assembly required.

So there you have it, the high-tech solution to preventing ice dams. Upon a little further research, it is also suggested that the heat tape be operating before it gets cold enough for ice dam formation. It may be too late for this year, but plan ahead for next winter and get some heat tape on your roof before the snow falls.

Posted by Caeli at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)