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Thread: Ice Dams??

  1. #1
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    Sep 2002
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    Ice Dams??

    All - I've had a problem this winter with ice build-up in my gutters. I've done a lot of reading as to what causes ice dams but in my case it doesn't make sense. Our house is well insulated/ventilated and this doesn't occur all the time.

    We only seem to have a problem after a heavy snow fall followed by a lot of sunshise on cold days (< 32). As the sun shines during the day the snow starts melting and freezes as soon as it hits the gutters. Does anyone else experience this? Or am I truly experiencing a "ice dam situation"?

  2. #2
    Senior Member
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    I've had this same thing on our new house. I went up in the attic to double check and it's definitely NOT from heat loss through the attic. My insulation is intact and there is plenty of venting on the underside of the roof. I think it's entirely due to sun melting. We've been through a couple of these cycles and have had no damage of any sort so I conclude that it's not an issue [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
    Rob

  3. #3
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    Yep, Sounds like the snow is just naturally melting and running down. Some years you might find are worse than others. Years like this one, where it snows, then thaws, then snows, then thaws, will ice dam even the best insulated and ventilated home. It's probably never going to cause a problem, unless we get an excessive amount of this kind of weather, (or a real big rain or ice storm [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] ).

    Steve


  4. #4
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    Thanks for the feedback...I don't know if it is a good thing or bad thing that I am not the only one experiencing the problem. At least I know it happens on other houses.

    Thanks again.

  5. #5
    Senior Member
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    Happens on other houses all the time. When I put the roof on my cabin some fifteen years ago, I ran a 3 foot wide strip of aluminum flashing along the eaves. I knew the ventilation wasn't as good as I would like it and figured this would at least help with ice dams. In practice, we still got ice dams, they just came off by themselves. Usually about the time they were the size of a volkswagon. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] The resultant crash from these large ice chunks coming off the roof will definitely wake you up. They will also destrtoy anything underneath them. Lost a real good gas grill that way. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

    Steve

  6. #6
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    Tarentum, PA
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    Yup. My house too. More this year than others. I was worried because I just put the gutters on the house myself (trying to save a few $$$) and thought that perhaps I didn't put enough slope on them. Doesn't seem to be the case though. Snow just melts from the sun or warmer spells and then freezes at night or when the temp drops again. I was considering putting heating elements in the gutters which could be turned on when needed, but if it doesn't happen all the time, I won't bother.

    - Gerald

  7. #7
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    Ice building up on the edge of the roof won't cause a problem, as it is only when the ice becomes a dam for the water that is still running off the roof (for whatever reason). When that water gets to the ice, and dams up deep enough, and it gets under the shingles and runs down the wall of your house, THAT becomes the problem. So the ice hanging on the edge of the roof only is an early indicator that this can happen. Kind of like an "orange alert". One can ignore it and the problem (water down the walls) may just not ever happen. Wish you luck.

  8. #8
    Senior Member
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    Those things happen only rarely in my part of the country, but when they do . . .. It was about 20 years ago when my next door neighbor called and woke me about 2:30 a.m. one morning to tell me he got up to go to the bathroom and found water running out around a light fixture. He needed to borrow my ladder to look up in the attic to see what was happening. I was half laughing to myself as I went barefoot through the house without turning on any lights to go open the garage door (attached garage), but when I walked through the kitchen, cold water hit my head and it wasn't funny anymore. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] It was running a steady stream from around a florescent light fixture into the kitchen floor. And that's when I (and a lot of other folks in the Dallas area) learned about ice dams at the eaves.

  9. #9
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    There are heating tapes for roofs subject to ice dams. They go on the bottom of the roof and exrend up 2 or 3 feet in a sig sag pattern to allow chanels for the water to follow down.

    Egon

  10. #10
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    Re: Ice Dams??

    Bird -- I had never heard of ice dams either, being a Southern California guy. But my first winter here in Vermont I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of water dripping in the bedroom. "We're taking on water!" I shouted, since very few things on this planet concern a submariner as much as leaks. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

    My wife, the native Vermonter, laughed so hard her sides ached for days!

    Pete

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