More ice dams but this time they mean business
Even the bird feeder has an ice dam.
There’s so much ice on every house that doesn’t get direct sunlight. Ice dams are a real problem and roofing companies and super busy the last few weeks. There’s been a cycle of warm days and very cold nights and that creates ice dams. They would be easy to solve if the heat tape was working. Even though both my son and the roofer told me I could use the 110v heat tape that runs on along the western side of the house, I’m afraid until after an electrician checks the panel. So far, no electrician.
So we have to go for low-tech solutions such as the one Paul found on YouTube: Fill a nylon with ice melt and lay it on the roof in areas where ice dams are a problem. Lo and behold, it works.
B&R Roofing came out to give me an estimate on repairs to the roof from the fire and he went up on the roof to scope things out. While he was up there and out of the goodness of his heart, he cleared off the 6-inch ice dams up there. He laughed at the nylon socks but said it wasn’t a bad idea at all because it weakened the ice enough to make clearing the ice dams a little easier. I paid him $50 even though he didn’t ask for payment.
The electrical fire may have helped reveal a bigger problem with the roof – the problem being that there is insufficient ice/water guard underneath the shingles combined with the ice dams, I’ve got water leaking from the roof down the front of the house. They propose to replace the entire west side of the roof.
Of course, we have to wait until warmer weather since the the estimate from Conifer Gutter ($3,300)proposes to: replace the gutters, add better downspouts, change the heat tape over the mud room to a zig-zag design rather than the haphazard loops I’ve got now, wire in a thermostat so no more trips to the electric panel to turn the tape on and solutions for ice-clogged downspouts.
The roofers also need a clear roof and the electrician needs it to stop snowing so they can come and check the panel for anymore wacky wiring.
All of these expensive chores. All of two-feet of snow set to fall on the Bar B in the next 24 hours.
It’s always something.