Damn Ice Dam

The first winter we were here we had an ice dam on the back of the house. Essentially, the snow melts, drips down, gets into tiny little crevasses where it doesn't belong, refreezes, builds up... wash, rinse repeat. It wasn't too bad, went away and we just didn't worry too much about it again, until just now.

The wall above our dining room window bows out a little bit from being old, and from getting ice dams in it I am sure. So the water goes straight there, freezes, thaws, refreezes and drips into the picture window.

And then drips into the kitchen.

The ceiling and the entire wall are trashed. It is all going to need to be replaced. The wide pine flooring is incredibly old and has absorbed a lot of water and one of the boards cracked and bowed.

Doug would go out before it got to this point each winter and whack the snow and ice. It kept things from getting out of hand and pissed Doug off to no end. I'd have to listen to him bitch and moan about it. But we had them in our last house too, and we had them in our apartments in Lynn and Marblehead. It seems to be part of living here. Our attic needs to be insulated. There was work done up there in the past but whoever did it didn't put in soffits to the facia boards so ... thanks ass. That would have helped.

Right now though, the snow is beyond hip-deep on a 6foot tall man. I tried to go out there twice yesterday and got completely swallowed up. Snow in the boots, fell down, soaking wet. It was actually kind of funny. I was a little pissed until I realized what I must look like and then I started to laugh.

We have to clear the ice off the back of the house. It is a sheet, all the way from the roof to the basement. So ... I'm going to get the snowblower out, and snowblow in my backyard. You heard me. I'm going to go out in the yard, and make trails so we can get out there safely. Without drowning. Snow has undertow pull like you wouldn't believe.

And... we will need to get a contractor to fix the back wall of the house and do something about that window. I am afraid this is going to be a $10,000 job at this point. In the meantime, here we go with the snow blower...