Ice Damming - Any suggestions??

[ridgeone]

The other night my wife and I were in our basement reorganizing and we noticed water dripping from the floor directly over the sill plate. The amount of water was not substantial but it turned into a few tablespoons overnight in the tuperware bowls we used to catch it. My investigation brought me to the attic after determining that it was not from the bathroom directly overhead (I'm positive). After close inspection of the circumference of the roof I noticed a few beads of water coming in from under the roof sheathing where it meets the eave. The house was constructed in 1949, we moved in about 10 months ago and this is our first winter in the house (Massachusetts). There is no overhang to the roof, the eave is flush with the outer wall. When I went outside to investigate the eave and the gutters, I noticed what is called Ice Damming. This is a phenomenon that occurs when heat escapes into the attic (in this case) and warms the roof to a higher temperature than freezing in that location. The ice melts underneath the snow and drips into the gutters and can back up underneath the shingles (in my case). It has backed up to the point where it has leaked down the back of the siding, in between the siding and the old wood siding underneath, dripped down to the foundation, back into the basement and also along the outer wall of the foundation. The water is also weeping from the siding and creating icicles down the outer wall. Few questions:
Has anyone else experienced anything like this before?
Should I be worried about the water in between the new vinyl siding and the old wood shingle siding creating a damp rotting condition?
What are a few possible solutions?
This is my first house and thus I only have 10 months of experience with it's history. The siding and the roof are less than 2 years old and I do not know if any vapor barrier like Tyvek was used. Any comments would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[giddonah]

You can do a couple things that I can think of. Check your attic insulation. The attic is either part of the house's weather barrier, or outside of it. You can tell that by where the insulation is. If it's in the floor, then check to make sure the insulation hasn't gotten packed down. Check for leaks between the heated living space and the attic where a draft might be carrying heat. Make sure the attic is ventilated so that the eventual heat that does escape doesn't collect. If the insulation is in the roof, then make sure that it hasn't gotten compacted either and doesn't have any holes for drafts.

You can avoid all that by just going up there after big snow falls and clearing the roof. You can also just heat the roof so that the snow melts and doesn't form ice until it's all gone, then stop heating the roof. You can do that by either installing heating units under the shingles or by opening an attic door and letting house heat up there.

Keep in mind that I am not a professional and that grumpy might be a better one to get advice from, but I do like to speculate :)

[grumpydasmurf]

I've answered this question more times than I can count.

http://www.construction-resource.com/forum/ftopic396.html&highlight=ice+damn

http://www.construction-resource.com/forum/ftopic2945.html&highlight=ice+damn

http://www.construction-resource.com/forum/ftopic2846.html&highlight=ice+damn

http://www.construction-resource.com/forum/ftopic1932.html&highlight=ice+damn

[giddonah]

that's 4 grumpy :wink:



j/k, don't hurt me! :D

[Cole]

Wow, i didnt know it was thay many.

[Cole]

You know what, I am going to give Grumpy a hand because he doesnt read long posts and for him to take his time and go find those 4 different posts says a lot. :D

[grumpydasmurf]

LOl it was actually probably faster to search for those, than it was to type out the whole spheel again. I thoughtt here was another post, about two pages long where I explained in great detail what causes an ice damn and how to prevent them from coming back but I couldn't find that one and I figured 4 post should suffice.