Here in Wichita we had 7-8 inches of snow recently.
The sun is shining but the temp is only in the upper 20’s so we have snow melting on the roof and ice dams at the lower edge of the roof.
Nearly every house on my block has a new roof due to last year’s hail storm.
I see houses with ice cicles hanging down from the nail holes in the soffit or from the soffit vents.
Should a new roof be leaking like this?
Were these roofs installed improperly?
^^^^^^
a Smith & Wesson beats four Aces
Replies
Details son, details.
There's an ice dam thread around here somewhere, started just the other day. You might get some answers there.
You're not a forum cop, are you?
Well, these houses have a 3/12 roof and the roof is leaking at the ice dam at the eaves.The moisture goes through the shingles, tar paper, decking, and drops down to the soffit.It penetrates and exits the soffit through nail holes, screw holes, soffit vent, or any gap it can find, and then it freezes and forms an ice cycle.I was just wondering if this is common and or acceptable with a new roof.^^^^^^
a Smith & Wesson beats four Aces
Shingles on a 3/12 is asking for ice dams.
Was Ice and Water shield put on before the shingles?
Lack of ventilation and insulation are other key factors.
The pitch doesn't cause ice damns anymore than reporteres cause news. The cause is in poor insulation/ventilation package.The probklem is increased if they failed to use bituthyene
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to expand a little, the pitch is in-appropriate for a three tab asphalt type shingle..4/12 is shallowest recommended for asphalt shingles
poor ventilation/insulation causes the ice dams.......lack of ice and water shield allows water from ice dams to enter the soffit/living space.
ice dams are prevented when the installation of insulation allows for ambient temperature air to enter the soffit and keep the underside of the roof sheathing at the same temp. as the outside air and the insulation prevents the loss of heat from the living area into the attic/soffit area.
Geoff
Unfortunately, all too common.
But totally unacceptable.
As others have already mentioned....poor insulation and ventilation are the likely causes for the damming. The lack of ice barrier is the cause for roof failure.
You're not a forum cop, are you?
No and yes
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What Piffen said! Sounds like the drip edge was installed over felt or bitchthane. The short circuiting of your interior heat is melting the snow during the day and during the night the melted snow is freezing next day same cycle but now the water hits this ice dam and backs up the roof, under roofing and into the interior for now grab some of your wifes panty hose, without her in them, and fill the legs up with salt knot the legs and place these on the ice it will melt 2 paths for the water to drain off when the water starts to flow move pantyhose to another spot. Do this about every 8-10 ft. don't try to beat the ice this will cause more harm than good.
Oh yeah Ive seen 16/12 leak from ice dams and I've roofed 3/12 with 3 tabs & total bitch that have not leaked because I did the insul and venting.
Edited 1/23/2007 7:50 pm ET by GUNN308
Ice dams are formed when warm air from inside the house leaks up through faulty insulation (or around roof penetrations, especially plumbing vents) to warm the roof deck under a snowpack. This is what Piffin was alluding to; that kind of roof heating is prevented by making sure the roof deck is properly ventilated so that the outside air keeps it cold at all times all over.
When it is not kept cold, the bottom of the snowpack melts, and dribbles of water run downslope under the snow. When those dribbles hit the eaves--which are outside the building wall, and thus not above any heated space--they re-freeze because that part of the roof is always cold.
The next little dribble hits the first one, and freezes on top of that. And so on, and so on, until you have a nice buildup of ice on the eaves. This is an ice dam. (On south-facing roofs with really bad venting, ice dams can get up to two feet thick. Bog help you if you've got steel roofing under that; when it lets go and slides off, it can destroy a car or kill anyone underneath.)
Now: depending on the slope of the roof, that ice dam can get high enough to hold back a pool of unfrozen water over the hot part of the roof. Roofs are meant to shed water; not to retain it like a swimming pool liner. Any standing water on a shingled roof will be sucked back uphill by capillary action, up under the shingle tabs, until it hits a nail or staple, at which point it will weep down along the shank of the fastener and drip off the point (which very often penetrates the sheathing).
Ice-and-snow membranes such as Bakkor's IceGard¯ are self-sealing; the way they help prevent pooled water behind an ice dam from leaking through the roof is by sealing the fastener penetrations. These membranes do not prevent ice dams themselves; they simply stop the water behind them from getting through the roof. Generally, you only apply membrane to the eaves and up to three feet upslope of the building wall. On a very low slope roof (below 3:12), you might want to apply it over the entire roof deck as (relatively) cheap insurance against leaks.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
A shingle roof is not waterproof. It sheds water, but will not prevent standing water from coming through. You have classical hot attic ice dams.