Afternoon-

The last two years I've had a severe icedam over the corner of one
room that faces the bathroom. The bathroom's roof (upper) drops about
4 foot to the lower roof; the valley is interrupted when they diverge.

2 years ago I gutted the lower room, installed a ridgevent, added new
insulation, new soffits- still had a bad icedam'd winter.

Last year (which was a bad year mind you) I had a similiar problem.
This year I've added new soffits to the bathroom area to vent the heat
above the shower.

Here's what I'd like to do as a temporary fix until I can find a
roofer that is willing to close off the valley by extending the upper
roof down to the lower one:

1) Ice/water shield above existing shingles to protect the bathroom
wall (normall exposed). Cut at a 30 degree angle from valley down to
lower roof. Tar leading edge tight.

2) Place heating / de-icing cable in tight formation around that bad
edge. Double up near the wall to prevent any from leaking in.

3) Deicing cable on the Upper Roof above the area that is usually
badly hit.

Here's where it gets odd tho...

4) Add Aluminum flashing from the valley out (mind you over shingles)
and OVER the heating cable. They'll be about 4 foot long strips. Tar
the seams. Tack each one in place with a pair of nails about 1 foot
above the leading edge of the cable. Ice/water shield top of aluminum
under the row of shingles.

I'll try and post a photo of the corner at

http://www.gotSheep.com/~hirsch/Photos/area.jpg

The last roofer I had subcontracted to a guy with no insurance- he did
a horrible job... and ended up ripping both me and my neighbor off (at
last I got a ridge vent for 1500$....) Everyone else I've talked with
refuses to build out the valley, claiming this product or that product
or prodigious amounts of ice/water shield will fix the area.
Unfortunately, roof backpitches about 1 degree (into the bathroom
area) because of house settling... can't get them to listen.

Suggestions very much welcome.

Jason Hirsch

why not just get the snow off the roof to begin with?

randy

"Jason Hirsch" wrote in message
om...
Afternoon-

The last two years I've had a severe icedam over the corner of one
room that faces the bathroom. The bathroom's roof (upper) drops about
4 foot to the lower roof; the valley is interrupted when they diverge.

2 years ago I gutted the lower room, installed a ridgevent, added new
insulation, new soffits- still had a bad icedam'd winter.

Last year (which was a bad year mind you) I had a similiar problem.
This year I've added new soffits to the bathroom area to vent the heat
above the shower.

Here's what I'd like to do as a temporary fix until I can find a
roofer that is willing to close off the valley by extending the upper
roof down to the lower one:

1) Ice/water shield above existing shingles to protect the bathroom
wall (normall exposed). Cut at a 30 degree angle from valley down to
lower roof. Tar leading edge tight.

2) Place heating / de-icing cable in tight formation around that bad
edge. Double up near the wall to prevent any from leaking in.

3) Deicing cable on the Upper Roof above the area that is usually
badly hit.

Here's where it gets odd tho...

4) Add Aluminum flashing from the valley out (mind you over shingles)
and OVER the heating cable. They'll be about 4 foot long strips. Tar
the seams. Tack each one in place with a pair of nails about 1 foot
above the leading edge of the cable. Ice/water shield top of aluminum
under the row of shingles.

I'll try and post a photo of the corner at

http://www.gotSheep.com/~hirsch/Photos/area.jpg

The last roofer I had subcontracted to a guy with no insurance- he did
a horrible job... and ended up ripping both me and my neighbor off (at
last I got a ridge vent for 1500$....) Everyone else I've talked with
refuses to build out the valley, claiming this product or that product
or prodigious amounts of ice/water shield will fix the area.
Unfortunately, roof backpitches about 1 degree (into the bathroom
area) because of house settling... can't get them to listen.

Suggestions very much welcome.

Jason Hirsch

Randy wrote:why not just get the snow off the roof to begin with?

randy


Can be dangerous. Tom
Work at your leisure!

Ice dams are caused by the melting and refreezing of snow. Somehow heat
from below is entering the attic or your undervented trapping heat. I
suggest you get a few real pros out to access your situation. It is
impossible to do without a first hand look.

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Randy wrote:why not just get the snow off the roof to begin with?

randy


Can be dangerous. Tom
Work at your leisure!

ya dont stand under it hehe

"xrongor" wrote in message ...
why not just get the snow off the roof to begin with?

randy

Thanks Randy- heh.

Actually I do get up there and take all the snow off. Have a pair of
rakes that I can drag most of it on down. Problem is, that doesn't
help worth jack when the stuff refreezes to ice- can't rake that down.

So I get up there with the ladder and chip away ... or (as in the case
last year) haul up 50lb bags of KCl ... to the tune of over 400lbs.
Thats how I won last year.

The 'professionals' I've talked with all say the same thing. The
neighbors around me all have the same roof style. Each has had it
replaced by a 'professional' telling them that they alone do good
work, everyone else sucks, and they alone will fix the problem right.

Every single one of their roofs has leaked in that corner.

Now, I hesitate to call all of those 'professionals' incompetent
morons, but hey- if you're hawking all these new fix-all products to
increase your profit margin I'm not too impressed with their success
ratio (0 for 5 so far).

I have plenty of intake; the only thing short I could do is install an
attic fan to increase it over the bathroom area and keep it chilled.

Even that will leave the exposed bathroom wall underinsulated and
unsealed (50 year old T&G with aluminum siding over it).

So yeah, I'll be on the roof again this year.

FWLIW, the only fix I know is Grace Ice and Water Shield (or similar)
UNDER the shingles. I don't see how it could possibly work above the
shingles. That won't eliminate the ice buildup, but it does make the
roof waterproof.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

On 26 Oct 2004 04:42:10 -0700, (Jason Hirsch)
wrote (with possible editing):

"xrongor" wrote in message ...
why not just get the snow off the roof to begin with?

randy

Thanks Randy- heh.

Actually I do get up there and take all the snow off. Have a pair of
rakes that I can drag most of it on down. Problem is, that doesn't
help worth jack when the stuff refreezes to ice- can't rake that down.

So I get up there with the ladder and chip away ... or (as in the case
last year) haul up 50lb bags of KCl ... to the tune of over 400lbs.
Thats how I won last year.

The 'professionals' I've talked with all say the same thing. The
neighbors around me all have the same roof style. Each has had it
replaced by a 'professional' telling them that they alone do good
work, everyone else sucks, and they alone will fix the problem right.

Every single one of their roofs has leaked in that corner.

Now, I hesitate to call all of those 'professionals' incompetent
morons, but hey- if you're hawking all these new fix-all products to
increase your profit margin I'm not too impressed with their success
ratio (0 for 5 so far).

I have plenty of intake; the only thing short I could do is install an
attic fan to increase it over the bathroom area and keep it chilled.

Even that will leave the exposed bathroom wall underinsulated and
unsealed (50 year old T&G with aluminum siding over it).

So yeah, I'll be on the roof again this year.