I’m sure this question has been asked before and probably before that. But bear with me I am not a contractor or a carpenter – just a homeowner that tries to keep up on repairs by doing somethings myself.In short be easy on me: I have lots of icicle and ice backup on my roof. What does that mean? Do I need additional insulation? Do I need a new roof? Do I need additional vents?
Thanks, Mike
Replies
It usually means that warm air is escaping the living qtrs and ending up in the attic-warming the roof and causing premature melt.
Sealing all air leaks into the attic sometimes will halt this.
In addition, more insulation might help more.
More venting might help limit ice, but won't keep the house warmer.
More insulation while still allowing the warm air migration won't stop ice damming..
So, fixing this is usually a combination of the above.
To limit damage, Ice/water shield installed under the shingles at the eaves and up a 4' from the wall line.
Also, some melt comes naturally-on a sunny side of a dark roof for instance.
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What Calvin said.
As Calvin said, it happens because heat from the house warms the roof and causes the snow to melt. The water runs down the roof to the (colder) eaves where it causes icicles and, more seriously, ice dams.
The heat can be due to a simple lack of insulation, but just as often is due to hot air escaping through various gaps in the ceiling -- pipe chases, holes drilled in wall headers for wiring, etc.
Once the heat is into the attic area it can be controlled with ventilation. But of course keeping it out of the attic in the first place is a better idea.
Observing the roof will give you some idea as to where the problems are. If there are major air leaks into the attic the snow will melt first in those areas. But of course sometimes the problem is so severe that snow melts everywhere and it's hard to identify a particular spot that's worse than the rest.
Thanks. There are 'hot' spots on the roof - at least at first when the ice starts to form. I have a feeling from where it is on the outside it appears to be the whole house fan opening. Just a louvered vent keeps the warm air in the house. I need to fix that.When I address the insulation/venting problem do I call a roofer, a contractor or a heating/cooling tech?The roof will be replaced this summer. The old roof has to come off - 2 layers on now - and so I suspect I could address the venting problem at that time - right?Mike
For the whole-house fan you can simply tape plastic over the top of the fan. (Don't forget to remove the plastic before using the fan in the spring.) For our fan I fashioned a slide-on box out of corrugated political signs (an infinite resource) and duct tape. This will conveniently blow off when the fan is first turned on (though it's best to remove it from above to prevent a partial blockage of airflow in the summer).Venting should be both soffit vents and roof-top vents. Generally there should be about one square inch of venting for each 1 or 2 square feet of rooftop, divided fairly evenly between soffit and roof-top. There are often arguments here as to whether ridge vents or individual metal vents are a better choice for the roof-top vents (I favor the ridge vents), but either one will work if sufficient in number/size.Rooftop vents are best added by the roofer, when the house is reroofed.Soffit vents can be easy to add or hard depending. Easy if you have a decent soffit overhang, enclosed soffits, and no insulation blocking the areas where the vents will be added. Hard if you have no overhang, or if the soffits aren't enclosed, or if there is insulation in the way. I'm not sure who is the best person to add the soffit vents -- some roofers will probably do it, others not.
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