Home Improvement Today?

Indeed it does! We lived in Northern VA and had lots of snow fall and at times had 4-8 inches of snow on the roof for days and never one issue with leaks or ice damming and I have always made it a priority to do a attic inspection once or twice a month and after rains as I have a walk up attic with easy access.

 

i run a program that does audits on homes, and while counterintuitive, ice damning has nothing to do with your roof. Call your insulator. I’ve dams happen when warm air leaks through your ceiling into the attic. Not sure your local requirements, but a blower door test is generally required, ask to see the numbers from your builder. Your insulator needs to come back out and air seal your attic, not just blow more insulation in. If you’re getting ice dams in a 3 month build, you have major air leakage/open bypasses to the attic.

 

Was a vast wasteland of carpet, padding, tac-strips, and 50 million staples...



Still have 45 million more staples to go tomorrow.

Did quickly clean out the water softener brine tank. Was able to quickly pump out the water/sludge mix and was just left with like a rock/salt mix that I dumped out. Quickly brushed the inside out, added a couple gallons of water, and 160lbs of salt pellets. Forced a regen (took about 3 hours?) and everything seems to be functioning. Also switched the source of hot water from the cistern to the well. No adverse affects. Well holding a nice steady 45-55 of pressure. Never feel a pressure drop

 

You’re welcome.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Crescent-11-in-Nail-Pulling-Plier-NP11/204065906

 

Oooo, fancy!

I will say my Klein side cutters make quick work of them. There's just do damn many!

 

The second house I owned had luan placed over all the hardwood then carpet and peal and stick tile. I’ve never hated narrow crown staples so much in my life!!! The oak hardwood was saved and refinished, looks like you mostly have to remove tack strips, if you can slip a 1/8” plywood under the tool so you can save refinishing if you can!

 

Agree and disagree.
1. There needs to be moisture in order to form ice, if the roof was shedding water, snow and ice properly this shouldn’t be an issue.
2. If the roof was properly ventilated it wouldn’t form ice because there would be an updraft through the ridge vent.
3. Clearly with the images provided show there is adequate ridge ventilation but if heat was added and heat rises then the convection path would still be through the ridge vent. It is my assumption that the ridge vent media is in place.
4. If the hot air from the lack of insulation is causing an ice dam on the ridge vent this IS a problem.

 

1 - Im not sure i understand your 1st point, unless you have an 8/12 pitch or greater with a metal roof, you are not going to shed snow, its going to stick to the roof.
2 - yes, ventilation is part of the equation, although a minor one when it comes to ice dams. the entire idea of insulation is that the temperature change happens inside the insulation, in an ideal scenario, your attic space would always be at the same temperature as the outside air (not necessarily feasible, but that's the goal). You are much better off solving the air leakage into the attic, than the symptom of what to do with that conditioned air once its already where you don't want it to be.
3 - I took a look at the picture, and this is not technically ice dams. Ice dams happen on top of the roof, where the snow melts from underneath due to heat in the attic space, then refreezes, and eventually works its way backwards, uphill, under the shingles. I would be curious if the snow that is visible in the pictures is on both sides of that main beam. This almost looks like a case of the wind just happened be from the right direction to push snow backwards through the ridge vent.
4 - yeah, for sure. Im trying to come up with other scenarios that would make that type of snow pattern on that beam, and I'm at a loss. Ive been doing home energy audits for a decade now, it's kind of interesting when i still get surprised by something. I might show that picture around the office and see if anyone else has seen this before.

 

This is why I am looking at the possibility of a baffled ridge vent to maybe prevent this from happening? You cant see it in the pics but yet it was a both sides in areas along this ridge vent.

 

Goin on year 4 using a ridge vent on the Shop/garage & no problems here.


Just got the roof rake out but waiting for it to warm up some. Could be June.

 

You have baffled ridge vents?

 

Yes. One the length of the Shop at the peak.

 

There’s a lot of weird stuff going on in this pic

why is there 3 different widths of siding reveal for one. Why is there a flashing strip under a window that appears to have j channel built into it
Also why does the masonry have a flashing strip halfway down it

U can prolly fix that sag in the window by pulling interior casing and driving the sash up with shims. But you shouldn’t have to on a new house. Plus then the siding might look even more messed up if they cut it to allow for the sagging window lol.

as far as the snow in your attic that’s not really an ice dam per se it’s more of a wind blown infiltration thing. The only thing I can think of that would stop that is a finer mesh on the ridge vent. Honestly I wouldn’t sweat it too much, it’s a testament that your insulation is doing its work and keeping your attic cold. Maybe it’s windier at your place than your builders lol. You could keep a eye on it but as long as there’s nothing trapping that moisture against your roof deck or rafters it’ll dry out on the first sunny day when your high/low venting does it’s thing.

 

I am not a builder but I think most ridge vents in the north east have a breathable foam filter that prevent debris and snow from blowing back through the ridge vent into the attic.

 

It was a hella windy storm lol at least up this way

 

These are all questions and issues brought up during closing

 

As an owner of a new house in a new neighborhood my advice to you is lawyer up now. When my house was being built I was a pain in the ass to the contractor. If something wasn't right I called them on it right then. My neighbors, not so much. The builder has run them around in so many circles they're all frustrated, angry and still have problems. Except one, they hired a lawyer, and somehow their issues have been fixed. Another important note, do not under any circumstances, post the builders name online, or swear, curse or yell at the builder or any of their contractors. Buried somewhere in the contract you signed will be a clause that allows the builder to walk away from the warranty if they deem you abusive. I'm not saying you're that way, but listening to them lie to you can raise blood pressure.

Walmart is the top retailer in the world, but nobody thinks of them for quality or service. Your builder is top by building houses cheep and fast, just like mine. If you want a quality house find a guy that builds just a few houses a year. It will be way more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

 

Not sure the funds are here to lawyer up no way we could compete on that level....I am really hoping that this can be handled through a more level headed goal

 

That's probably the best course of action. The neighbors that lawyered up were at about 9 months of their 12 month new home warrantee. I don't know the details of what happened. Saying the builders name in my neighborhood (number one in my state BTW) just creates a storm of complaints, so I avoid the subject like the plague.

 

For the most part things are fine with the house we have just had a few issues the window being the biggest issue remaining as they have addressed all the other issues. If we lawyered up the process would shut down im sure and nothing would get done.