In Perspective - Ice Dam

I am sure that most of you have experienced or have seen what is called an ice dam. My first year in New York, I got a real taste of the ice dam phenomenon. Yes, the house had those electric wires strung over eaves of the roof, but they did little good against the New York winter. When spring came the problems showed their ugly head. Water backed up on the roof and eventually found its way into the wall near the back door. And then there was the gutter system, great for water but not for ice.  

Even this morning as I drove over to Elmira for a radio interview I saw houses with icicles the size of Roman columns. I also noticed houses with bare spots on the roof where the snow had melted. These are two signs of the notorious ice dam. The bare spots are the first sign of the ice dams and the icicles stretching down off the roof is an ice dam in progress.

What is amazing is the easy fix for this problem. Generally, it is heat from the house being trapped in the attic that melts the snow that is touching the roof. The heat warms the snow and then it runs down underneath the snow to the eaves of the roof, which are colder, and refreezes creating the ice dam. The colder it gets the more heat that is used in the house that adds to the problem. It is just one big cycle of thaw and freeze.

So how do we fix it. The first is to find the source of the heat leaking in to the attic space. Attic doors are one spot worth attention. Another is poor insulation in the attic. Always check the chimney, vent pipes and bathroom and kitchen venting into the attic. I added an eave vent, built a cover for my attic access door and added another six inches of blown-in insulation. I think I spent about $400 in all to fix the problem and did I reap the benefits. Most importantly the ice dam disappeared and the snow stays on the roof instead of melting. Second, the attic door cover stopped a draft as warm air was rising through the door access. Third was my heating bill dropped which is always a good thing and I haven’t had ice damage to my gutters which has saved me from climbing ladders to re-secure the gutters to the fascia board.

So while the original experience wasn’t very pleasant, the results were well worth the time and money. The insulation paid for itself in heat savings, but I also was able to deduct 30% from my income tax. I don’t have those dangerous icicles that were damaging my gutters which left me more time to spend getting the garden ready in the spring and there is a happy thought, spring.