Sunday, January 23, 2011

Oh Ice DAM(IT)

We really aren’t trying to be bad bloggers leaving you hanging without any posts! Truth is we have had our hands full with an uninvited guest. Somehow, someway melting snow on our roof is making its way down an interior wall and right into to our living room. Initially it really wasn’t a huge concern until we noticed that our hardwood floors were starting to buckle. After some thorough research, dangerous maintenance and working with our insurance adjuster we were glad to stop the leak and find that our insurance would cover any damages.

After ripping out some drywall and a rooftop investigation we have concluded that the leak has been an off / on one that has gone unnoticed for some time. The only reason we ended up with so much (enough to pool on our floor) is because of all the snow we have been having.
And the more we look at it the more we continue to question the design / build of the placement of the furnace vent.

It has also managed to seep into the portion of our basement that is actually finished and warp trim and mouldings as well as bubble parts of the paint....

Our dining room as of today:
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Our dining room/living room floors:
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Our poor ladder will have to stay put until Spring with the crazy amount of snow that we have had just this week!
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A temporary hole in the gutter to avoid any further ice build up.
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The good news? We enough extra flooring to replace the damaged section. The bad news? It won't be done until spring is officially here to avoid any further damage. So it looks like we will have to sit and be patient for now.

And thanks for your patience, and wish us luck that we have it under control!

24 comments:

Love Being A Nonny said...

Oh wow! What a mess. I had to laugh when I saw the picture though of the wall cut out. Everything was still hanging on the wall and furniture still in place and yet there's this big hole in the wall. Too funny!

Oh, and I live in NC and that is an AMAZING amount of snow to me!! UGH!

Unknown said...

Yikes, leaking water is such a huge problem as you guys know. It tends to involve more than one room and surface. Glad that insurance is in place and wishing you patience and luck in getting all the necessary repairs done.

Cindy said...

wow, that is a lot of snow....i thought we had it bad in michigan but it's nothing like you have. how do you paint your furniture? do you do it in the basement or do you have another place to paint??

heres hoping you get a thaw pretty soon, holly!!

cindy

Unknown said...

Oh no!! I'm sorry!! :(

KLM said...

Oh man that's nuts. Sorry to hear about the leak. Glad it's fixed now and that the insurance covered the costs!

andy & lo said...

best of luck with the leak!
no snow here, but had TONS of rain around christmas and spent christmas night digging a trench around our house to keep the water out & filling in gaps in our roof to stop the water from leaking into our window and walls!
what a mess.
thank goodness your insurance will cover it.

Simple Daisy said...

Oh how sad! I know just how you feel. The snow really has to end soon and spring needs to come!!

I guess the good thing is...at least everything is covered by insurance.

Winter really is just such a pain:(

Here's to spring coming soon!!!

Grace @ Sense and Simplicity said...

What a nuisance. Thankfully your insurance adjustor seems to be very helpful and agreeable.

Pine Tree Home said...

Uhg. What a bummer. So glad that you figured it out. I would have been freaking out seeing my floor buckle.

TQ said...

Isn't winter weather great? It took my husband and I 4 hours to dig our car out of the snow yesterday. I think I'm officially ready for spring.

Rebecca said...

OOOOOOOOH NO!!!! I'm so sorry you guys have to deal with this :( I remember our flood all too well and it seems like it takes forever for the repairs...but thank goodness for insurance companies! If you guys need any help with snow removal at all from the roof or any other help...CALL US! We can bring a few army guys over to help too depending on the job:)

A Vintage Vine said...

Good luck! I'm sorry you got hit with this problem...Hang it there it will all workout!

Erin @ The Impatient Gardener said...

I'm so sorry. Ice dams stink. We had them all the time until we finally changed the roofline (we had a weird mini-dormer that was causing problems that couldn't be fixed with any roofing or insulation solutions). We had to shovel the roof every time it snowed and go up there and break off the ice every few days or we'd have leaks in the house.

Glad your insurance company is working with you on it.

jandjhome said...

Oh, this is terrible. Living in South Florida we have to deal with the threat of hurricanes every year, but that snow looks daunting. Good luck cleaning it up and so sorry about those floors.

Krystal Wight Armstrong said...

Good luck! Definitely sending a prayer for all the unexpected problems you're having to deal with.
Not that it's not enough work on its own, but if you feel like it, maybe all the repairs that are coming with this could turn into little instructional posts? I'm certainly very interested in learning how to fix & work with any kind of of things like this around a house. Meanwhile, keep warm & dry, up there! (ps- for a sec I actually thought the cutout in the wall was an interesting piece of art hanging there like a distressed piece of an old red wood-slatted barn door or something!)

Amanda said...

ohhh noooo, lovely! thank goodness insurance is helping with the problem but how hectic that must be. if it makes you feel any better, the dining room still looks BEAUTIFUL, even with a big ol' hole in the wall. ;)

if you want to get away from THAT MUCH snow, we have less here. alot less. and, you're welcome to visit (i.e. come sip coffee and give me direction on our great room). ;)

hang in there with the leaks. wish we could help.

Shades of pale said...

gotta love our Canadian winters!

Gina said...

Oh no!!! But you know what, that is a blessing in disguise had it not been for the snow. Just think of the mold that would have been growing there.

Hope it all gets resolved quickly and you have your beautiful floors back! xo
Gina

Rachael said...

Damn indeed! Sorry for the bad luck - hopefully this is the last of it!

Rustic and White said...

Your house, despite the damage is just lovely. I can really feel for you and your floors...we just put ours in and I think my husband would die if something happened to them and he had to fix them up. Keep looking on the sunnier side of life:o)
Carrie

Anonymous said...

How frustrating! Such a beautiful choice in wood. I love it!

Giggles said...

My daughter and I feel sick about your floors. We put ours in after yours and had our hot water tank go, we caught it in time thankfully...and our roof was just redone...

Thankfully you have more floor. We kept a box, but now I hope that's enough for any future issues! Good luck with the repairs...Thank goodness for insurance!

Hugs Giggles

Pretty Little Things for Home & Life said...

Oh that's awful! I was worried about leaks myself, being that we we're in a new build and everyone says "they don't build em like they used to!". But thankfully, nothing yet.

Just be careful on the roof if you're up there shovelling! We know someone who shattered their elbow last week, trying to clear the gutters. Yikes!

good on you for having extra flooring! I'm happy to hear insurance is covering everything!

christine, just bella said...

Ugh. I totally feel for your guys. I haven't seen this much snow since I was a kid! I'm in Edmonton too and the same thing happened to one of my co-workers. I heard those roof rakes are selling like hot cakes!!

Welcome to Alberta :) Good luck with everything!

 
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