This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house. We had a
foot of snow over the weekend and now we're having artic weather.
During the day there is some slight thawing in the sun and everything
refreezes at night. In the corner of an exterior wall inside the
garage water is dripping down inside the wall, dripping out the bottom
behind the drywall, and pooling on the cement floor. (1) How in the
world can the source of this problem be isolated and fixed? (2) If
this is not a do-it-yourself problem (as I suspect it is not in my
case), which building trade would be best qualified to tackle the
trouble-shooting? Thanks for any ideas.

A. Barnhard wrote:This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house.
We had a
foot of snow over the weekend and now we're having artic weather.
During the day there is some slight thawing in the sun and everything
refreezes at night. In the corner of an exterior wall inside the
garage water is dripping down inside the wall, dripping out the bottom
behind the drywall, and pooling on the cement floor. (1) How in the
world can the source of this problem be isolated and fixed? (2) If
this is not a do-it-yourself problem (as I suspect it is not in my
case), which building trade would be best qualified to tackle the
trouble-shooting? Thanks for any ideas.

Ice damming. Get a good roofer. Ask them if there's enough ventilation in your
attic. If not, get more. One thing you might be able to do yourself is make
sure the insulation is up to snuff. If these efforts don't clear up the
problem, then you may want to tear off and install ice and water shield.
G'luck. Tom
Work at your leisure!

"A. Barnhard" wrote in message
...
This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house. We had a
foot of snow over the weekend and now we're having artic weather.
During the day there is some slight thawing in the sun and everything
refreezes at night. In the corner of an exterior wall inside the
garage water is dripping down inside the wall, dripping out the bottom
behind the drywall, and pooling on the cement floor. (1) How in the
world can the source of this problem be isolated and fixed? (2) If
this is not a do-it-yourself problem (as I suspect it is not in my
case), which building trade would be best qualified to tackle the
trouble-shooting? Thanks for any ideas.

It's called an ice damn. It happens when you get a warm spell then a freeze
the water that is still running toward the gutter freezes making a small
height dam when it gets over the eave on the way to the gutter but freezes
when it hits the better ventilated area of the eave and then the water that
is still coming down toward the eave hits the frozen dam and then either
adds to the damn or backs up under the shingles and then finds the easiest
path to ground. The thing to do is either remove the snow while its still
cold, add heat tape to the eave area so the damn won't form or what I do in
the shallow roof over my garage where I have had this problem once is throw
ice melt on the eave part of the roof and some in the gutter as well to keep
the water flowing. I'm southwest of Chicago your area might be different.
and YMMV!

Best of luck, Rich

Rich wrote:
"A. Barnhard" wrote in message
...

This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house. We had a
foot of snow over the weekend and now we're having artic weather.
During the day there is some slight thawing in the sun and everything
refreezes at night. In the corner of an exterior wall inside the
garage water is dripping down inside the wall, dripping out the bottom
behind the drywall, and pooling on the cement floor. (1) How in the
world can the source of this problem be isolated and fixed? (2) If
this is not a do-it-yourself problem (as I suspect it is not in my
case), which building trade would be best qualified to tackle the
trouble-shooting? Thanks for any ideas.


It's called an ice damn. It happens when you get a warm spell then a freeze
the water that is still running toward the gutter freezes making a small
height dam when it gets over the eave on the way to the gutter but freezes
when it hits the better ventilated area of the eave and then the water that
is still coming down toward the eave hits the frozen dam and then either
adds to the damn or backs up under the shingles and then finds the easiest
path to ground. The thing to do is either remove the snow while its still
cold, add heat tape to the eave area so the damn won't form or what I do in
the shallow roof over my garage where I have had this problem once is throw
ice melt on the eave part of the roof and some in the gutter as well to keep
the water flowing. I'm southwest of Chicago your area might be different.
and YMMV!

Best of luck, Rich


Hi,
Ice dam(n)? I'd say poor construction. I live in Calgary Alberta where
winter temperature can go up and down more than 40 deg. Centigrade when
Chinook blows in. What ice dam(n)? or water where? Nothing happens
inside/outside my house.
Tony

A. Barnhard wrote:
This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house. We had a
foot of snow over the weekend and now we're having artic weather.
During the day there is some slight thawing in the sun and everything
refreezes at night. SNIP

GOOGLE: ice + dams

Loads of info.

A. Barnhard wrote:

This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house. We had a
foot of snow over the weekend and now we're having artic weather.
During the day there is some slight thawing in the sun and everything
refreezes at night. In the corner of an exterior wall inside the
garage water is dripping down inside the wall, dripping out the bottom
behind the drywall, and pooling on the cement floor. (1) How in the
world can the source of this problem be isolated and fixed? (2) If
this is not a do-it-yourself problem (as I suspect it is not in my
case), which building trade would be best qualified to tackle the
trouble-shooting? Thanks for any ideas.

It's an ice dam, as all of the others have said. Also the problems leading to
ice dams have been mentioned.....but what to do in the mean time to stop
further damage.

Try this site.
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/know.../0,16417,21160
4,00.html

BTW I had an ice dam so large one winter the weight of it ripped the gutter
along with the fascia and soffit boards right off of the house. It also
knocked out the power to our whole neighborhood because it fell on the power
line comming from the pole in the back yard.
Good Luck
Dan.

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
news:6bhKd.192732$6l.158653@pd7tw2no...
Rich wrote:
"A. Barnhard" wrote in message
...

This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house. We had a
foot of snow over the weekend and now we're having artic weather.
During the day there is some slight thawing in the sun and everything
refreezes at night. In the corner of an exterior wall inside the
garage water is dripping down inside the wall, dripping out the bottom
behind the drywall, and pooling on the cement floor. (1) How in the
world can the source of this problem be isolated and fixed? (2) If
this is not a do-it-yourself problem (as I suspect it is not in my
case), which building trade would be best qualified to tackle the
trouble-shooting? Thanks for any ideas.


It's called an ice damn. It happens when you get a warm spell then a
freeze the water that is still running toward the gutter freezes making a
small height dam when it gets over the eave on the way to the gutter but
freezes when it hits the better ventilated area of the eave and then the
water that is still coming down toward the eave hits the frozen dam and
then either adds to the damn or backs up under the shingles and then
finds the easiest path to ground. The thing to do is either remove the
snow while its still cold, add heat tape to the eave area so the damn
won't form or what I do in the shallow roof over my garage where I have
had this problem once is throw ice melt on the eave part of the roof and
some in the gutter as well to keep the water flowing. I'm southwest of
Chicago your area might be different. and YMMV!

Best of luck, Rich
Hi,
Ice dam(n)? I'd say poor construction. I live in Calgary Alberta where
winter temperature can go up and down more than 40 deg. Centigrade when
Chinook blows in. What ice dam(n)? or water where? Nothing happens
inside/outside my house.
Tony

is this tony hwang or cheech and chong?

ice damming is caused by poor ventilation, i.e. poor design.

randy

New house, dont you have a warranty. Attic could be improperly vented or
a few other things. Call your builder and get independant bids from
roofers and document the problem

These knowledgeable replies sound like good advice to me. You've all
been really helpful. Thanks.

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:21:59 -0500, A. Barnhard
wrote:

. . . garage water is dripping down inside the wall . . .