Signs of spring
Discovered--somewhat to my pleasure--this afternoon that the water working its way into our lovely sunroom wasn't going through a fault in the roof.
It was actually coming in a vent. An ice sheet several inches thick has formed on that part of the roof--probably due to the fact that we only sporadically heat the room. Some days, the wood stove's a-blazin' or the blinds are wide open, and the sun heats the tiles. But some nights, we don't run the stove, and I close the doors, let the area get down to the outdoor temperature--or near enough, I suppose.
Should have occurred to me, I suppose, that this might cause trouble. Sure enough, probably due to the fact that this regularly creates conditions suitable to partially melt the snow on the roof, we've now got ice on the roof around the chimney and adjacent vent thick enough that when it starts to melt on warm days, water works its way in through the vent.
So yes, we have a leak, but no, there's nothing wrong with the roof. And I was able to climb up there, clear the ice from immediately around the vent, and it's stopped dripping in--for now.
Next winter, we might have to invest in a roof rake, try to keep the snow off the shingles in the area--though I suspect this will also eventually require some serious flashing, as shingles don't hold up to that kind of thing for long. I suppose it's also possible it might have just been due to the truly odd weather we've had this year--freezing and thawing all over the damned place--but I rather doubt this.
In other news, we saw cardinals in the back yard this morning--a male and female, presumably together or thinking about it.
Yep, meltwater on the floor and amorous birds in the backyard. Looks like spring is springing.
It was actually coming in a vent. An ice sheet several inches thick has formed on that part of the roof--probably due to the fact that we only sporadically heat the room. Some days, the wood stove's a-blazin' or the blinds are wide open, and the sun heats the tiles. But some nights, we don't run the stove, and I close the doors, let the area get down to the outdoor temperature--or near enough, I suppose.
Should have occurred to me, I suppose, that this might cause trouble. Sure enough, probably due to the fact that this regularly creates conditions suitable to partially melt the snow on the roof, we've now got ice on the roof around the chimney and adjacent vent thick enough that when it starts to melt on warm days, water works its way in through the vent.
So yes, we have a leak, but no, there's nothing wrong with the roof. And I was able to climb up there, clear the ice from immediately around the vent, and it's stopped dripping in--for now.
Next winter, we might have to invest in a roof rake, try to keep the snow off the shingles in the area--though I suspect this will also eventually require some serious flashing, as shingles don't hold up to that kind of thing for long. I suppose it's also possible it might have just been due to the truly odd weather we've had this year--freezing and thawing all over the damned place--but I rather doubt this.
In other news, we saw cardinals in the back yard this morning--a male and female, presumably together or thinking about it.
Yep, meltwater on the floor and amorous birds in the backyard. Looks like spring is springing.
posted by AJM at 11:08 p.m. (Permanent Link)
