I thought I would post a few pics about ice dams and potential damage since so many are experiencing this more this year. After the couple of posts that came up,
Ice dams?
I had received quite a few PMs with a lot more questions. The most frequent question I got was “How much of ice build up is too much?”
It doesn’t take much if a house is poorly air sealed or insulated. Attached are pics taken at my current project. I built the addition and renovated about 800 sqft on this house. Last summer the home owner often commented on the temp difference in the Living Room (existing space not renovated). He wanted me to look at some updates in here for a phase II project. Well, the scope grew and grew. Over-all, the house was very well built in 1979. I found only a few issues in the original project this last summer. However, in his living room, I found where a couple contractors took some short cuts. The exterior walls have enormous air leaks, no air sealing along any electrical wires passing to the ceiling, fireplace flashing was not stepped, and non ICAT can lights were used. End result was ice damming with nearly any amount of snow. The ice pushed up to the masonry fireplace and dripped in, behind a masonry wall – rotting out a 4×4 point load. Condensation built up around the can lights as well as the insulation melting from the heat of over sized lamps. To add to his problem, the rafters for the ceiling and the roof had gaps the extended out above the wall plates to the soffits, letting cold air travel beneath the insulation against the drywall. Finally, the insulation was only R-13 and grossly under what should have been there.
It really pays to inspect your home and check for any issues. If your going to (or have begun) a renovation or building project, make sure your contractor is doing more than minimal code requirements to build a better envelope.
