Ice Damming 101

Last week, I marvelled at the glory of nature with its crisp wintry white scupltures and icy delights.  




Today, I am cursing it.




First, look at the pretty pictures...

At about eleven yesterday morning, I learned about a whole new winter phenom called ice damming.

Here's what ice damming may look like on the outside of your house:

And here, kids, is what it will look like on the inside of your house:

Let's see...Right now, we're looking at two new ceilings:  one in the dining room, one in the kitchen.  The potential of a new sub-floor (and hence a complete re-tiling) in the master bath.  And assorted collateral damage.  Luckily, we were home when things started to "burst forth," so we were able to catch a lot of the leaks before they sat and did more damage. 

When we called or gutter guys (literally, The Gutter Guys LLC), they almost laughed and basically said "take a number and get in line."  It was Amica, our brand new--and now favorite--insurance company that was able to get us an alternate roofing crew to start the cleanup.  They're now on day two of snow and ice removal and the leaks continue.  ServPro has been in to start the cleanup, but it'll be weeks before everything gets put back together.

My love affair with winter may have hit a little bump in the road...