Friendly advice about ice damming

[Endlesshine]

Some of you home owners/renters might be noticing some leakage occuring in your homes after the recent snow storms. This is normal, so don't freak out.

There is a teeny weeny phenomena called "Ice Damming". This occurs when your gutters and downspouts freeze and the melting snow on your roof cannot drain off of the roof. The water, instead, gets pushed upward, opposite of the directions of the shingles, resulting in water raising the shingles and leaking into the walls of your house. Unfortunate, but unavoidable with the design of some homes.

Best advice I can give you may seem simple: Punch small holes in the affected ceiling areas with a screwdriver and let the water leak into buckets. If your carpets are affected by this, raise a corner of the carpet and pad and set a fan by it.

Then call your insurer and get a contractor referral for any interior damage that my have occured. Don't worry, in most cases there is no roof damage. Once all the snow is melted you should not see any more leakage.

I work for a general contractor and we've received about 200 claims between yesterday and today. Let me know if you have any questions.

-Ron

The above were just suggestions. I cannot be responsible for damage you cause to your home by following any of the advice aboce.

[WRX11]

Can those holes be filled with small camera lense for future party use? Or in my case, female housemates? Would the insurance company pay for that?

[Endlesshine]

<----- shaking head in pity<--------

John, John, John... you and your one track mind

[WRX-U]

...HaHa. Saturday morning my dad comes up to me and says "did you just flush you toilet" ME: "yes, that's what I usually do after using it" So the poor old man cuts a whole in the seeling about 2' by 2'...Now geuss what, he can't find the leak.
Well now I can go home and tell him what the problem was.


~B

[Endlesshine]

Glad I could help

[Speedwagon]

Some good and proper flashing can go a long way towards preventing the leaking too. But, it obviously has to be done before it starts. A lot of older houses, and some cheaper built houses, don't have good flashing on them.

[AJ711]

Best thing to do to prevent "Ice Dams" is to clear the bottom 2-4' of roof as best you can after it snows. This will help to keep the dams from forming, and if they are there, allows the sun to get on them and *hopefully* melt them. It's a major issue back home in NH, and my father learned early on how to keep them in check.

AJ

[Endlesshine]

*caution* when attempting to climb onto roof with 2ft of snow on ground and roof. Confucious say this. He smart.

[AJ711]

Yes, I don't recommend climbing on roofs (pretty much in any weather, had some "interesting" experiances on roofs and the sides of my house), but they make large 'shovel' type things that have long poles in order to reach the roofs. Course, you could also prop a ladder on the side of the roof and shovel off within an arms reach and move from there. Time consuming, yes, but less costly than getting a roof and interior rooms replaced? Yes.

AJ
not to be held responsible for 'accidental' falls off sides of houses

[Endlesshine]

of course, should you fall off your ladder, at least try to make it into a nice, fresh, untouched patch of powdery snow...

[NVAKeith]

Up in NY to prevent the ice damming, some people put 'heat tape' in a zig-zag pattern along the last 2 feet of shingles. When the snow builds up, turn on the heat tape and melt the 'dam'. My Dad's solution was to replace the last two feet of roofing with copper which I guess has two benefits, no shingle overlap for the water to go under, and a smoother surface to coerce the 'dam' into sliding off the rood.

[iamonyx]

It is also possible to use calcium chloride to melt the ice. Do not use rock salt, it will deteriorate the asphalt shingles.

-Onyx

[iceNine]

Ron:

The best way to prevent problems with ice damming is to have sufficient insulation in the ceilings below the roof space. The water sepage is caused by heat buildup under the roof causing the snow to melt while it is still below freezing. The water runs to the edge of the roof overhang and freezes forming a dam. Water then backs up behind the dam and doesn't freeze because it is warmer in the roof section. It then leaks under the shingles and into the walls. So the prevention is to have good insulation and to have good ventillation of the under roof space so that any warm air that does get up there is quickly removed (an exhaust fan is good for this).

Dale

[WRX11]

Originally posted by Endlesshine
*caution* when attempting to climb onto roof with 2ft of snow on ground and roof. Confucious say this. He smart.

Had a close call in front of a Giant the other day coming out of it. The sloped roof was piled with the 2'snow and once I passed under it going to my car, a gust of wind pick up and shook the roof enough to trigger a avalanche and sheets of snow came towards me. Thank god for my cat-like reflexs, no one got hurt. Even the noise soundsed like a real one. The lady walking toward me to go in to shop said, you could have gotten rich. Then I though of the STI and kept cursing.

[fatray]

My basement is leaking like crazy. It's unfinished and the walls are water proofed. Water is leaking in were ever there is a tiny pin hole in the paint. I even have water coming in from a crack in the floor. Sump pump is pumping every 30 seconds. I put every thing I could on top of the pool table. I used Drylock on some of the holes only for it to leak up a little higher. Flowing so fast the Drylock won’t stick. I did use some plumbers putty to make a little dam to divert the water to the sump pump in one heavy flow location. I am praying the 50 year old sump pump does not fail!
Ceiling is dry (knock on wood)!