Size does matter.
I recently had my first run-in with ice dams on my house. Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of leaking into the house – at least that I’ve been able to find. There was a little bit of dripping in one of my front windows, and hopefully that is all.
During this whole debacle, my house ended up being used as a background for one of Jason DeRusha’s “Good Question” segements. He tweeted looking for someone who had huge icicles, I responded and the next thing I knew there was a TV truck in front of my house. It was fun to see TV being made in person again – but reaffirmed my decision to change paths (more on this later). You can see the video of the segment at http://video.minneapolis.cbslocal.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp… Question: Do Icicles Mean You Have Ice Dams?&flvUri=&partnerclipid=. (Aside: WCCO TV needs way shorter links to their video clips)
I ended up having to hire a team to come out and steam off the dams. There were huge chunks of ice littered around my house after they were done – some pieces I swear were almost 6 inches think. I have some pictures of the before and after, which I will try to upload at some point. One of the dams ended up taking out one of my gutters – incidentally the one that Jason was standing by for the stand up. The company that did the removal is going to come back out in the spring time to fix it – all I’d need to pay for is the gutter segment and possibly not even that. They are a win, so if anyone needs a recommendation for ice dam removal, let me know.
As a result of this, I’m learning a lot about being a homeowner by living and owning in an 80+ year old house. Granted, with all of the snow we’ve had, it seems like 90% of house have ice dams, but this situation caused me to pay more attention to possible upgrades and small tweaks that need to happen around the house. First step is going to be to call Xcel to get a comprehensive energy audit. Yes, this is a bit more pricey than the NEC one, but I need to find out about the status of the insulation in places around my house, so the infrared scan is necessary. After that, I’m guessing there will be some insulation to beef up, perhaps some windows to caulk, and who knows what else.
However, I do love my house, and I’m glad I bought it. I still am working on making it mine and decorating. I will do an update soon with some of the projects that have been completed and some photos now that I’m mostly settled.