Beyond finger-crossing: getting through winter with old roof

 Last winter we had ice dam issues and consequently leaks inside the
house. It's a duplex situation so the leaks mostly affected our
upstairs neighbors and was minimal within our own property, yet still
disturbing.  Our neighbors were getting married though so pleaded to
hold off until Fall with replacement since they had some other big
bills. In the summer after a week of solid rain and even more
disturbing leaks, we unanimously decided to get a new roof before this
winter hit.

Unfortunately, it got complicated amid all of us being too darn busy
this summer/early fall to stay on top of quotes, and also (most
significantly) finding out that it's apparently not enough to simply
slap on some new asphalt. We were all thinking that would be all that
it would be: simple, straightforward, budgetable, quick once we hired
and scheduled someone.

However, all the contractors (four!) came back with the same opinion:
we have rotten wood under the asphalt in the places where we had leaks.
This is more involved than simply slapping on new asphalt; the damaged
wood needs to be replaced as well. Changing the asphalt will do little;
in fact, nearly 1/2 of the asphalt was replaced by the contractor who
sold us the place. It appears he slapped it over soggy wood.

By the time we had collected all our quotes and reconciled ourselves to
a bill that will likely turn out to cost us about 3 times more than
what we'd budgeted, as well as take a lot longer than we had planned,
our first snow hit in October. Even though we lined someone up, it does
not look like we'll be able to schedule this work this year since right
now we have 6 inches of snow and ice covering everything, and even if
the snow melts and the weather improves for a short time, the
contractor is still finishing up other commitments that bad weather has
interfered with.

So the question for the group is: is there anything we can do, short of
finger-crossing and prayers and good luck charms, to get us through
another winter with a bad roof? Are there mitigation techniques we
might try when it snows?

jen

 

Do you have a roof rake?  We use a roof rake to get the snow off the roof
ASAP after a snowstorm, and that seems to help (less snow on there to melt
and cause the ice dams).  It might also be worth considering purchasing one
of those cables that you install near the edge of the roof to melt the ice.
Some combination of these would probably help prevent the ice dams.

 On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 17:38:52 GMT, someone wrote:


We live in a snowy area, we know what a roof rake is, and we have
never used one.  We also have never (in the 8 winters since the house
was built) had any leaks from ice dams.

One year when there was an unusual climatic situation (deep snow pack
and numerous days of borderline temps going back and forth across
freezing point), we did have some ice form (as did many buildings in
the area that were not usually prone to this) but no leaks.

If you are roofed right, there should be NO NEED to rake snow off your
roof ASAP (or ever).


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

 
v wrote:

It depends what you mean by roofed right.  There's something called
"ice guard" or something like that that is placed under the shingles
near the eaves and extended a certain distance up the roof.  This will
keep the water out only up to the point where the ice guard stops.  I
don't know of anyone that's covered the entire roof with it.

Ice dam formation has little to do with the way a house is roofed.  The
roof shape, the outdoor conditions, the attic insulation and venting
are all major factors.

Ice dams can still be a problem even if there are no leaks.

My parents house in the same climate never had a problem with ice dams.
 Many houses in our neighborhood do, and most of them have new roofs
because of a hail storm a few years ago.

A roof rake should be used as a last resort, but for some houses,
that's what needed, - at least in the  problem spots.

 twofivetwofivetwo@yahoo.com says...

They covered my entire shed dormer (back half of the house) with
"Ice and Water Shield".  The original roofing was half-lap (that
wasn't) I had it replaced with "30 year" Architect shingles.  Since
the pitch is only 2/12 they covered the entire thing in the shield.
We live in snow country (NW Vermont) and it's been fine (other than
the fact the nitwits forgot the flashing around the chimney) for
seven or eight years.
 

Yes, but there are severe conditions where I'll still get dams.  
It's rare though.


Ventilation isn't going to stop hail.  ;-)


I agree.  They wear the shingles and can even tear them.  It's not
a good idea unless there is no option.  Snow blowers on the roof
isn't a good idea either (yes, it's been tried).

--
  Keith