Dam it!!!

[Strongbow]

Okay, just bought this stick frame house in November. Moved in in December. Was gone the entire month of January (during which time it was so cold that ice cubes were starting warming fires). During January there were a couple large snows and tons of ice.
So, dam it, I have ice dams. And the snow is melting. And the water is coming in our house. And we have guests coming from Canada and staying here in a little over a week. And I feel like we're screwed, but I'm really trying really hard to be optimistic, but this problem is setting a new standard for my optimistic self.
Do I think the insurance company will cover it? Sure! Do I think it'll be fixed before our guests get here. Snowba- errr, icicle's chance in hell. Do I think it'll be fixed before our baby is due in April (we want a home birth)? Possibly (I dunno)?
Home ownership should be a course in high school and required.
On the upside, I am SOOOOOOO glad this happened in my first (project) home than my log (dream) home and I am equally glad that I get to learn this lesson on a home I didn't build with my own blood, sweat, and tears.

So, those of you who have built your log homes, as this problem is caused (at least in this house) by poor to non-existant attic ventilation and waaaaayyyyyy not enough attic insulation (and me not knowing that a roof rake is not an optional piece of equipment), what have you all done to mitigate this problem in your own dream homes that you've built with your blood, sweat, and tears?

[loghousenut]

Well I am no help at all. Never had one of them ice dams and don't really know how to handle them.

[loghousenut]

As I read whatever that last old frat wrote, I think to myself "What a miserable old brastad... Can't he have any empathy?"

Then I reread it and edited it to make more sense, though my post was still a waste of your time. Please forgive me, Strongbow.


Wishing you an uneventful home birth. Hope the baby is as much help during your build as my boy Jake has been-err, I mean hope the kid learns to read and write in your log home.



PS... Also hope you enjoy 29 as much as I did. I really liked 59 also. The main reason I'd want to be 29 again is so I could do 59 again and I'd relive almost every year exactly the same way on the second goround.

[Strongbow]

At first, I thought you were saying how much you'd love to have ice dams, then I re-read what you posted. I suppose I can be glad this is happening while I'm 29 and not 59.

[rreidnauer]

Breaking down the problem, you already recognize the lack of insulation. Keeping the roof surface cool as possible is key. (score one for venting in the vent vs no vent argument) The third piece to the puzzle is what to do if there is meltwater under the snow that gets to the gutters and refreezes. (which is what really is the true cause of damming) Really, the only option is laying electric heat tape in the gutters and in the downspouts, or removing gutters altogether.

[Strongbow]

Today, I spent the better part of the day on a ladder and some more on the roof with a framing hammer breaking off chunks of the ice with the claw end of the hammer. I must have been successful in clearing enough ice to stop the problem because no more water came into the house today. I still have more work to do, but it feels great to not have water coming in.
Roof rakes are NOT optional equipment.

[Bmetz34]

I don't know if this works or not, but I've seen people fill the foot parts of a pair of panty hose with rock salt, then throw them over the top of the roof. They hang there and help the ice melt so you don't have to go at it with a hammer

[Strongbow]

I'm going to have to remember that. I'll stock up on Calcium Chloride and... pantyhose? *cough *cough
Yep.

[loghousenut]

I'd almost forgot about the salty pantyhose trick. That's how my brother Bo said he used to do it when he lived back east. That was when he was still a bachelor so he asked one of the dress wearing gals at work what she did with her pantyhose when she wore them out. She said "Well if I can find them in the morning I wear them back home again".


That's the way I heard it.

[Strongbow]

You're a riot! That's funny!

[BoFuller]

Part of my moving to a warmer clime was to keep some of those memories suppressed. Now I'm prolly going to have to have more therapy. Thanks Bro. :)

[Strongbow]

'Bout fell outta my chair laughing!