Posted: 1/14/2010 12:33:12 PM EDT
| Well, I've been in my first home for 3 months and found water leaking through my ceiling yesterday. It was the first day warm enough to melt in Eastern Iowa. I got up into the attic and it sounded like a wet forest, water dripping everywhere. All the wood was damp, most of the nail tips were either iced over, or dripping water. Now large areas of my ceiling have dark lines in the drywall along the framing lines. I've got someone coming to look at it, and it's covered by insurance, but jeez, what a pain. Anyone else have any problems like this? |
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What exactly is happening? This is actually my first experience with it, but as I understand it, Ice Damming is when snow on the roof begins to melt and the snow at the bottom doesn't melt as fast trapping water above it and allowing the water to seep between the shingles as it sits there. There is then the possibility of interior water damage. |
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Quoted: Quoted: What exactly is happening? This is actually my first experience with it, but as I understand it, Ice Damming is when snow on the roof begins to melt and the snow at the bottom doesn't melt as fast trapping water above it and allowing the water to seep between the shingles as it sits there. There is then the possibility of interior water damage. When snow melts because of warmth escaping your home, it re-freezes at the unheated overhangs. Thus forming an ice dam. The dam traps water uphill of it, which your sloped roof was never designed to hold. As suggested, remedies are better insulation, and better ventilation (so that your attic is the same temperature as outside), a metal roof will usually solve the problem (although some metal roofs, especially with intersecting valleys, can still suffer ice dam issues), and there are also heated electrical wires and tapes that you can apply at the eave edge to melt off ice dams. |
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Can you get up near the eaves and chop out some channels in the ice for the water to get through? I've seen people that have a heated wire system on the shingles near the eaves for this reason. Funny thing is that there wasn't any snow at the peak when I discovered it, only at the gutters and shaded corners. If it is damming, then the snow had all melted by the time i found out. Either that or it was something else entirely (condensation perhaps?) |
| Holy crap. Had my first (known) ice damn, water issue this year. I live in a townhome with a complex roof and heard some dripping water... in an interior closet. I found one leak and put a tote under it to catch the water. When I inspected yesterday (after a 45 degree sunny day), it had stopped and I never found any other. With the extent of yours, it sounds like you'll be either needing a professional re-roofing, or a metal roof. Multiple leaks everywhere sounds very bad. Since insurance covers it ,you should be fine as long as it's addressed correctly. |
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Warm attic+snow on roof = ice dams...
They can be ugly. I got them badly once upon a time, so I ventilated the hell out of my attic. This plus gutters that extend the overhang by just a little have cut my problems down by 80-90 percent. Unfortunatly, now the vinyl gutters get trashed and the downspouts rip off. No biggie, those can easily be repaired. The gutters are a home depot system with guards, and it seems that the ice grows over the guards yet still allows some meltwater to get into the gutters. This works well until they fill up and freeze solid. Happily, a big bomber snowfalls are uncommon here... |
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Quoted: This is a ventilation problem. IM me if you would like some help. I am done getting involved with these threads, the personal insults directed towards tradesmen on this site are disgusting. That's kind of a shame, because in my opinion the personal insults are hurled by a minority of members, and I love reading your posts in these threads. I always feel like I learn something. |
| Buy yourself a snowrake. After every big snow storm or after 4 or 5 inches accumulate, I rake my roof off. You don't have to go all the way to the peak. I rake about halfway up, that way the gutters thaw out and the remaining snow as it melts has a way to drain. Make sure to be very careful around the electric wires. You probably already know this, just saying. |
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Can you get up near the eaves and chop out some channels in the ice for the water to get through? I've seen people that have a heated wire system on the shingles near the eaves for this reason. Funny thing is that there wasn't any snow at the peak when I discovered it, only at the gutters and shaded corners. If it is damming, then the snow had all melted by the time i found out. Either that or it was something else entirely (condensation perhaps?) What is the condition of the shingles? It sounds like it may just be bad shingles and direct leaking. |
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Quoted:
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This is a ventilation problem. IM me if you would like some help. I am done getting involved with these threads, the personal insults directed towards tradesmen on this site are disgusting. That's kind of a shame, because in my opinion the personal insults are hurled by a minority of members, and I love reading your posts in these threads. I always feel like I learn something. I agree. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Can you get up near the eaves and chop out some channels in the ice for the water to get through? I've seen people that have a heated wire system on the shingles near the eaves for this reason. Funny thing is that there wasn't any snow at the peak when I discovered it, only at the gutters and shaded corners. If it is damming, then the snow had all melted by the time i found out. Either that or it was something else entirely (condensation perhaps?) What is the condition of the shingles? It sounds like it may just be bad shingles and direct leaking. Re-Roofed in april, 09. No leaking problems (that I know of) with the heavy rains we had this fall. |
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Here in the Flagstaff area, ice dams can also be caused by a period of warm weather after the snowfall. Melt water will infiltrate to the roof and convert the snow there into ice along the eaves. Then you get a roof glacier.
I scrape it off the roof edge when we get more than a foot or so using a telescoping brush. |
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Up here, ice dams most often have little to do with gutters. They occur just as easily on houses with no gutters. They happen on the roof edge or soffit. Snow on the roof melts (where it's warmer), but freezes on the edge of the roof above the uninsulated soffit (where it's colder). They can be incredibly thick, and have a lake of water behind them. Yes, it's due to lack of ventilation or insulation below the roof, but often that's easier said than fixed. Things that may help solve it: Insulation in the attic (above the ceiling of the top floor). Ventilation in the attic (there are also units that will automatically activate and blow cold air in the attic) Things that may help prevent leaking, but don't solve the underlying problem: Metal roof Metal edge to roof Bitchithane (?sp) below shingles near edge–– this is a "leak-proof" rubber layer beneath the shingles Heated wire zig-zagged along edge
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