Water in the Wall

[A. Barnhard]

This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house. We had a foot of snow over the weekend and now we're having artic weather. During the day there is some slight thawing in the sun and everything refreezes at night. In the corner of an exterior wall inside the garage water is dripping down inside the wall, dripping out the bottom behind the drywall, and pooling on the cement floor. (1) How in the world can the source of this problem be isolated and fixed? (2) If this is not a do-it-yourself problem (as I suspect it is not in my case), which building trade would be best qualified to tackle the trouble-shooting? Thanks for any ideas.

[Tom]

A. Barnhard wrote:>This is our first winter here in central NJ in a new house. We had a

Ice damming. Get a good roofer. Ask them if there's enough ventilation in your attic. If not, get more. One thing you might be able to do yourself is make sure the insulation is up to snuff. If these efforts don't clear up the problem, then you may want to tear off and install ice and water shield. G'luck. Tom Work at your leisure!

[Rich]

It's called an ice damn. It happens when you get a warm spell then a freeze the water that is still running toward the gutter freezes making a small height dam when it gets over the eave on the way to the gutter but freezes when it hits the better ventilated area of the eave and then the water that is still coming down toward the eave hits the frozen dam and then either adds to the damn or backs up under the shingles and then finds the easiest path to ground. The thing to do is either remove the snow while its still cold, add heat tape to the eave area so the damn won't form or what I do in the shallow roof over my garage where I have had this problem once is throw ice melt on the eave part of the roof and some in the gutter as well to keep the water flowing. I'm southwest of Chicago your area might be different. and YMMV!

Best of luck, Rich

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Ice dam(n)? I'd say poor construction. I live in Calgary Alberta where winter temperature can go up and down more than 40 deg. Centigrade when Chinook blows in. What ice dam(n)? or water where? Nothing happens inside/outside my house. Tony

[Speedy Jim]

GOOGLE: ice + dams

Loads of info.

[Mason121]

It's an ice dam, as all of the others have said. Also the problems leading to ice dams have been mentioned.....but what to do in the mean time to stop further damage.

Try this site.

BTW I had an ice dam so large one winter the weight of it ripped the gutter along with the fascia and soffit boards right off of the house. It also knocked out the power to our whole neighborhood because it fell on the power line comming from the pole in the back yard. Good Luck Dan.

[xrongor]

is this tony hwang or cheech and chong?

ice damming is caused by poor ventilation, i.e. poor design.

randy

[m Ransley]

New house, dont you have a warranty. Attic could be improperly vented or a few other things. Call your builder and get independant bids from roofers and document the problem

[A. Barnhard]