omg more snow

[ctgoldwing]

Yep, its been one heck of a snow season here in CT. Stores all sold out of snowblowers, roof rakes, and even snow shovels! Lots of news stories of roofs collapsing. Its getting really dangerous around here.

Just got done with 2 days of shoveling the house roof and raking what I could from the barn roof. Borrowed the neighbors rake... he was lucky enough to catch a new supply come in at ACE hardware a week or so ago. Back breaking work. I was lucky to hire the neighbors teen son to help me or I don't think I would've made it. With another storm predicted for mid week, towns are telling folks to get the snow off the roofs before it hits. Trying to find a contractor to clear the roof is becoming a desperate endevor.

I pray for spring!

lol - as I write this at work (in Waterbury) we have 6 laborers on our flat roof shoveling. The roof area is about 70,000 sq ft so they are probably going to be up there a while

Have to beat this storm they are forecasting for Wednesday. All that snow up there now will just be a big sponge for any rain / sleet we get.

 

[JohninCT]

lol - as I write this at work (in Waterbury) we have 6 laborers on our flat roof shoveling. The roof area is about 70,000 sq ft so they are probably going to be up there a while

Have to beat this storm they are forecasting for Wednesday. All that snow up there now will just be a big sponge for any rain / sleet we get.

Flat roof... I would have hoisted the snowblower up there with the tractor to blow the snow down. I actually made a few calls around to see if I could find one of those light weight electric snowblowers or a small 2 stroke job to bring up to the roof. Man, I was thinking of all kinds of schemes to try to get out of that blasted shoveling!:laughing:

On a more serious note... in the morning briefs at work today found out that one of our coworkers fell through a barn roof and fractured a vertebre. Another decribed a elderly neighbor who fell from a ladder and cut himself really bad she helped control bleeding until EMTs arrived.

It is hard and sometimes dangerous work. Everybody be careful out there:thumbsup:

 

[CHDinCT]

I also cleared what I could off of my house and garage roofs this weekend but I'm powerless to do anything effective for the ice dams. I did use a hammer and chisel to cut some groves for the melt water to run off but after the warm up this past weekend, then re-freeze at night, they're all back to solid ice. Even tried a propane torch to remove some of the ice damns, but it was just too slow going. Any pearls of wisdom on removing ice damns? I'm getting worried about backup under the shingles should we get rain, which is predicted for part of this next storm. Pic is before I raked the roof.

 

[Timber]

I am hoping for snow and no rain mix, we have all ready lost to many buildings in the area

 

[jake98]

Any pearls of wisdom on removing ice damns? I'm getting worried about backup under the shingles should we get rain, which is predicted for part of this next storm. Pic is before I raked the roof.

You need to stop the heat thats melting the snow on the roof, to stop them from forming. It's usually an insulation problem. Sometimes recessed lights in the ceilings cause the melting. Don't know if that's a pearl of wisdom, it's usually the case tho..

 

[CHDinCT]

You need to stop the heat thats melting the snow on the roof, to stop them from forming. It's usually an insulation problem. Sometimes recessed lights in the ceilings cause the melting. Don't know if that's a pearl of wisdom, it's usually the case tho..

I kind of figured that having looked at my unheated garage and seeing no ice dams. Worst of it is over my family room with a cathedral ceiling. It's suppose to have about 12" of insulation in the roof, but since there's no attic there's no way to check it. I've been thinking I need to remove the shingles at the lower edge of the roof, install that water and ice membrane, then re-shingle. Not a job I'd look forward to since the roof was re-shingled about 5 years ago. Didn't think to have that done then. Now I'm kicking myself.

 

[JohninCT]

Any pearls of wisdom on removing ice damns?

Someone here suggested putting ice melt on them. That sounded like a good idea to me. If it works on the sidewalk it should work on the roof.

 

[jake98]

Now I'm kicking myself.

You've got a good pitch on that roof, Chris, (looks like an eight on twelve by the pic) and short overhang, I doubt you'll have any trouble.

Actually after looking again, it doesn't look like you even have any ice damming, just icicles. There's no gutter, right?

 

[JB4310]

It is hard and sometimes dangerous work. Everybody be careful out there:thumbsup:

I was cleaning roofs all day again today, starting to take chances walking on that little 6" wide level area on top of ice dam. only on 1 and 1 and half story houses, with the idea that you'll only fall 10 ft or so and land in 3-4 feet of soft fluffy snow. Never thinking about the possibility of getting impaled on a tomato stake

Any pearls of wisdom on removing ice damns? .

Look at that hammer in my prev post, I spent all saturday on mine, solid ice as thick a a street curb. The trick is to not do damage to roof and gutter. You can get it off the roof cleanly with the proper technique, no way to get solid ice out of gutter without doing damage.

I'm getting worried about backup under the shingles

As long as you open up some areas of the dam (every 2 ft) you shouldn't get any leaks, especially if you haven't had any so far.
My roof has the membrane along the eaves so I had no leaks inside, but the water was getting behind gutter and facia board and some brownish stains on wood shingle siding below. That's what convinced me that I had to remove the dams. Also to rake fresh snow off eaves in the future, you need that fresh snow for the dams to start. In 8 years I never needed to remove snow but now I will.

Someone here suggested putting ice melt on them. That sounded like a good idea to me. If it works on the sidewalk it should work on the roof.

I did use some ice melt, doesn't do much to 8 inch thick ice but it does help if you get the ice melt to run under the dam from above/behind it. makes it possible to get a clean release from the roof, but you still gotta pound the ice with extreme prejudice

JB.

 

[retiredmgn]

Someone here suggested putting ice melt on them. That sounded like a good idea to me. If it works on the sidewalk it should work on the roof.

Yup, toss a bunch of salt/icemelt whatever. Once you remove the present problem get some heating tapes up there. Expensive to run but less than the cost of inside water damage.