Did you know icicles are silently destroying your house?

If you live in an older house in the Northeast, some of the money in your winter heating bills escapes and causes invisible damage inside and outside the eaves.

Data source: greenbuildingadvisor.com

warmlyyours.com

Melted snow drips down into beautiful icicles to distract us, then expands back up underneath the snow blanket and forms a hidden ice dam. Above it, trapped water sneaks into the house, where it rots wood, grows mold and eventually leaks through.

Ice dams are caused by:

heat loss through air leaks in ceilings + walls
attics with inadequate insulation (or none!)
solar heat warming dark-colored siding + roofing
waste heat from ventilation and exhaust pipes
forced-air ductwork in an unconditioned attic

buildingscience.com

Treatments for the symptoms include:

install electric heat cables to melt the snow before it forms an ice dam (don’t wait for the icicles!)
install snow cleats or guards - these help protect you from falling ice

The cures for ice dams are:

seal air leaks at fixtures, ductwork + attic hatch
increase attic ceiling insulation to keep heat out
ventilate the attic at the lowest + highest point, or horizontally across (not both)
install a ventilated “alpine roof” by adding an air gap between the sheathing and roofing