frozen gutters, water now flowing into house! :(

Muzz · 10 Jan 2010

with all the snow we've had the gutters on my house have frozen solid so much that there is now a dam of ice going up over the first row of tiles.

I noticed water dripping in around the back door and through one of the air vents in the window. on inpsection in the eaves i can see ice on the internal wall and water is starting to spread. Not checked the full length of the eaves to see the extent yet.

my roof has flush eaves, no fascia board with the gutters attached to the wall. The roof is felted with concrete tiles.

The dripping has stopped, I assume because it's -5 right now. Been up to clear as much snow as I can (got at least 1ft on the roof) but this is going to get worse before it gets better i think.

not sure what to do?

i'm also concerned as my halfix buildings insurance says "frost" is not covered under the storm section although this is more a melted.frozen snow problem.

stuart45 · 10 Jan 2010

Google ice dams. They are a serious problem in some parts of America and Canada.

ekap · 10 Jan 2010

We have ice dams and massive icicles formed all round the bottom of our roof. We have a huge roof and about a foot of frozen snow on top of it. I have been fretting about it all day and have just sent hubby out with a ladder and a hammer and chisel to chip a channel in ice as we are due a small thaw tomorrow. Wish him luck!!!

we have also tried making our own ice thaw sock using rock salt in a mesh bag. Melting very slowly tho...

Burnerman · 10 Jan 2010

My soffits have frozen water in them, and water is dripping in, over the top of a window frame. PITA !
John

stuart45 · 10 Jan 2010

Burnerman said:
My soffits have frozen water in them, and water is dripping in, over the top of a window frame. PITA !
John

That sounds like a typical ice dam problem.

Muzz · 12 Jan 2010

well, after hours and hours of work i removed as much snow as my snow shovel could reach when on my ladder, the i chipped out some ice from the gutter and some from the roof, poured hot water in the gutter to create a channel that flowed away, then put rock salt on the massive lump of ice on the roof, thankfully we had a spell above zero degrees overnight and the worst has gone.

I didn't do the front of the house as it didn't appear to be leaking and with the last couple of days being 3-5 degrees it's diminishing nicely.

fingers crossed my leak was just due to ice build up and was only a temporary problem.

Nige F · 12 Jan 2010

Thanks for naming your "insurer" I will be leaving them myself @ renewal time .. what you said don`t surprise me ...allegedly

Richard C · 12 Jan 2010

Many years ago or washing machine got stuck on the boil cycle when we were out all day; we arrived home quiet late to a house full of steam & initially thought the place was on fire! Most of the kitchen cabinet doors were ruined as the Formica facings (remember that stuff!) had delaminated & the chipboard was swollen but the insurance company declined my claim on the basis that I was covered for flooding but the damage was caused by steam! Eventually, after some serious rows, they agreed to pay for new doors if I DIY fitted them; I couldn’t dump the insurance company as it was in the days when you had no choice but to use the mortgage companies insurance.

Footnote; Underwriters call the shots so most insurance companies have the same conditions/exclusions these days, it's mostly the policy excess that changes; worth checking as switching may not give a better result.

Muzz · 13 Jan 2010

just to be clear, I didn't contact the insurer, i just read my policy booklet and under the section "Storm" it has a "what is not covered" section which just says "frost" underneath

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frozen gutters, water now flowing into house! :(

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