[littlecope]

I know there's a lot of people here who work in the building trades, my question is, what the heck do you do about this? My parents have lived in the same location for 50 years and have had trouble with ice off and on for most of that time, but never more so than the last few years. The icicles aren't even that large this year, but the ice dam that builds up at the roof's edge is anywhere from 10" to 16" thick. On warmer days, it melts from the bottom (next to the roof), and leeches up underneath the shingles, and into the walls and ceilings of the house. A real disaster!! The little rain gutter on the porch has over a foot of ice, all that's probably holding it on at this point.
There are fellas in our area who are going up in a bucket to try to deal with some of these issues, not really sure what they attempt. I can't see them chopping with axes or anything, they would destroy the roof eave. Torches? Then there would be fire danger, plus the melting water would go straight into the house.
It's a real problem, if it melts slow the melt goes straight into the house, if it just falls it breaks anything in it's path. My Dad has had two car roofs and the porch roof broken and battered by it in the past. Any ideas would be welcome! Michael C.

 

[littlecope]

The roof was re-done around 1995. I'm not certain, but I think they applied membrane because my parents would have told them about their ice difficulties. When my Dad did the roof himself back in "63 he went so far as to install copper flashing to the roof edges. But that only left less for the ice to cling to, with the result that it came down falling faster and would then rebuild and fall again. As far as heat loss into the attic, I agree and there is presently no insulation in the attic and only about a 6" vent in the whole roof. But that doesn't explain the porch, where some of the thickest ice is, nor the garage which is unheated as well.
The folks aren't alone in this of course, there are 100's of people in the area with similar problems. The guys that do something about it are out straight and you can't get anybody to come right away, you have to go "on the list".
Moving to Florida is a great idea, but trust me, they're not going anywhere until they get called to their Final Home….
Tenontim: just saw your post come in and believe it or not, my Parent's neighbor has been roof raking it!
The good news is that it has stayed cold, and windy, and the wind is slowly shrinking some of the ice, through erosion and moisture stealing. Come Spring, I'm going to try to talk the folks into insulating the attic. I can do that and also knock some holes through the eaves. Thanks to all for their help! Global Warming my eye!
Michael C.