Sneaky water is sneaky

[jducoeur]

*Sigh*. I really didn't need this right now.

I had *thought* that I was doing okay, roof-wise -- a small leak in the bay window due to the ice dam there, but no other signs of trouble. I knew that there were a few ice dams elsewhere, but thought that they weren't causing too much melt. I *have* been worried about roof collapse, but not too much about leakage, since there is no sign of dripping through the roof itself. Naive me.

I just discovered that the ceiling of the guest bedroom is totally trashed -- I walked in there to put something away, found the floor wet, a steady single drop dripping, and a mild but dangerous bulge in the ceiling. So I followed the advice from the TV yesterday: I put a (big) bucket in the desired location, grabbed an awl, and punched several holes in the drywall. A good gallon came through in the first couple of minutes.

There *still* is no apparent drip in the attic, so my best guess is that the ice dam is causing leakage right at the edge of the house, down by the soffits -- instead of going over the edge, it's flowing inward, and finally pooling about five feet into the room.

Pain in the tuchus. The ceiling is clearly a loss, so for now I'm just punching holes as needed and accepting that I'll need to replace it come spring. In the meantime, I dearly hope nothing else breaks horribly...

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Good thing you noticed it. A controlled failure is better than uncontrolled.

If/when it becomes time, there are very good membranes that get put under shingles these days, that stop water from getting into the roof if ice dams happen. Our roof is steel with that stuff under it, and the steel results in no ice dams; suspenders and a belt! Some folks go with steel margins and then normal roof shingles further up - a lower cost hybrid that also solves the problem.

Oh: And Lowell's wife is in the biz, and he posted elsewhere that roof collapse is the failure mode for flat roofs; pitched roofs fail via ice dams and leaking and only rarely rarely by collapse. This reassured us.

[jducoeur]

Yeah, intellectually I know that a roof collapse is unlikely, although the pitch on mine is shallow enough that I can't quite completely convince myself of that. But it had never occurred to me that I'd get an ice dam in that location, and indeed I don't know *why* it has dammed so badly there, but going out and looking, the damned thing's close to a foot thick, right at the corner of the house.

Useful food for thought on the roof; thanks. I'm probably due for re-roofing sometime in the next few years anyway, so I'll keep that in mind...

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I think our roofs are a 30-degree pitch. 45 would be more sensible, alas.

[kls-eloise.livejournal.com]

There's been a few collapses of pitched roofs down here, unfortunately. Those seem to be failing when the walls can't take it and buckle enough outwards to let the roof fall in. I've got a one to one rise, so we seem to be fine.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. Although them calling failure of walls a "roof collapse" seems a little erroneous.

[jducoeur]

True, but the effect is pretty much the same: too much snow causes the roof to fall down on you. The physics are a little different, but I suspect most people don't care...

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Right.

Btw, saw elsewhere the suggestion of filling an old sock with ice melt and throwing it up on the roof where it will settle in the ice-dam lake and help melting proceed faster. As it will be quite warm today, you might want to give this a try on your bad spots.