As if slippery sidewalks and snow-covered cars aren't bad enough during the winter, you face another potential headache: ruined carpets and water damage to your ceilings and walls from leaks caused by ice dams or bursting pipes. You can avoid the resulting aggravation and expense by taking several basic steps right now to prevent this kind of damage.
If you're handy with a hammer and screwdriver, you can do much of the work yourself. Work involving your home's structure may require a building contractor, however, or even a registered design professional such as an architect or engineer.
Before making any structural changes to your home, check with your local building officials to be sure what you're doing complies with local building codes.
FREEZING PIPES
Frozen water in pipes can cause water pressure buildup between the ice blockage and the closed
faucet at the end of a pipe, which leads to pipes bursting at their weakest point. Pipes in attics, crawl
spaces and outside walls are particularly vulnerable to freezing in extremely cold weather, where holes
in your house's outside wall for television, cable or telephone lines allow cold air to reach them.
To keep water in pipes from freezing,
take the following steps:
• Fit exposed pipes with insulation sleeves or wrapping to slow the heat transfer. The more
insulation the better.
• Seal cracks and holes in outside walls and foundations near water pipes with caulking.
• Keep cabinet doors open during cold spells to allow warm air to circulate around pipes
(particularly in the kitchen and bathroom).
• Keep a slow trickle of water flowing through faucets connected to pipes that run through an
unheated or unprotected space. Or drain the water system, especially if your house will be unattended
during cold periods.
ICE DAMS
An ice dam is an accumulation of ice at the lower edge of a sloped roof, usually at the gutter. When interior heat melts the snow on the roof, the water will run down and refreeze at the roof's edge, where temperatures are much cooler. Eventually, the ice builds up and blocks water from draining off of the roof. This, in turn, forces the water under the roof covering and into your attic or down the inside walls of your house.
Once an ice dam forms, the potential damage can be serious. Take these steps now to avoid trouble later:
• Keep the attic well ventilated. The colder the attic, the less melting and refreezing on the roof.
• Keep the attic floor well insulated to minimize the amount of heat rising through the attic from within
the house.
This two-step approach decreases the likelihood that ice dams will form or, at least, reduces their size.
As an extra precaution against roof leaks in case ice dams do form when you re-roof, install a waterrepellent membrane under your roof covering. Talk with your local building official about minimum code requirements for ice dam protection. Unfortunately, ice dams may be unavoidable if your
home has recessed lighting near the roof. Heat generated from these lights melts snow, which then
contributes to ice dam buildup. The only sure way to avoid this problem is to eliminate recessed light fixtures near the roof.