Advice Needed

[jocelyn]

I am having the following problem:

I informed my landlord that my gutters were clogged right before winter. He kind of shrugged it off and implied that he wasn\'t going to do anything about it. I probably should have cleaned them out. I didn\'t. I suck.

My gutters filled with snow, then ice. I now have a huge ice damn going all of the way around the edge of my roof. In the back of my house, it is causing water to drip down onto my porch. This has formed a mound of ice about 7" thick against the outside of my bedroom door. Also a giant clump of icicles that reach from the roof all of the way down to the porch. The patch of ice on the porch and against the back of my house and my bedroom door is now at least 3 feet long. Now water is leaking into my bedroom. The carpet is pretty wet.

SO I just went out there, shoveled off the 3 foot drift of snow on the porch, and went to town with a pickax. Pretty fun I might add, except for the shards of ice flying at my eyeballs. I picked at it for about 45 minutes and made some pretty good progress. I can\'t really do any more because I shoveled all morning at the barn and then rode 4 horses and my arms are totaled at this point. But I think, eventually, I can clear away the ice, if I don\'t kill myself with the pickax first.

That was probably too much information. Whatever.

My question is this: Once I clear away all of the ice, what do I do about the ice damn on my roof? Do I need to go up there and get rid of it somehow? (Scary.) Or will I be ok if I just don\'t let any ice build up on my porch?

Also, could this potentially cause my roof to leak?

[bdfreetuna]

Wait for spring.

Either that or wait for a giant icicle to fall on your head and sue. :shrug: (be careful if you choose to do this!)

Yes this will only expediate the eventual leakage of your roof. But that\'s your landlord\'s problem, not yours.

[jocelyn]

Wait for spring.

Either that or wait for a giant icicle to fall on your head and sue. :shrug: (be careful if you choose to do this!)

I really can\'t. My bedroom is starting to get wet. Mold is a bitch to get rid of once you have it.

[bdfreetuna]

Mold is also something your landlord is probably obligated to take care of, as it poses a serious health hazard in some cases. Check your state laws and give your slumlord a ring.

[SlimPickens]

An ice dam in a gutter frequently causes water to get under the roof and destroy ceilings and walls inside the house.

As a rentor, it is not your job to fix.

Fixing it is not your responsibility.

1. You should definitely photo document the ice damn, and its "wake of destruction".

2. Notify the landlord (again) of the issue ASAP.  Tell him of the damage that it\'s causing to his property and potentially yours.

3. Work out a deal where your work is compensated.  Maybe he can knock some money off next months rent.

Also, don\'t get on an icy roof.  Thats got disaster written all over it.

[jocelyn]

You\'re probably right. I feel like this is kind of my fault though, for letting it get to this point.

It\'s a tough situation because my landlord is essentially a friend and he gives me a serious break on rent.

[SlimPickens]

You\'re probably right. I feel like this is kind of my fault though, for letting it get to this point.

It\'s a tough situation because my landlord is essentially a friend and he gives me a serious break on rent.

You were proactive by telling him before winter, so this is def not your fault.

You\'re doing him a favor by letting him know again, and by already trying to work on the problem.

[simpletwistupdon]

You\'re probably right. I feel like this is kind of my fault though, for letting it get to this point.

It\'s a tough situation because my landlord is essentially a friend and he gives me a serious break on rent.

Well, you gotta think is your landlord/friend going to reimburse you for any of your property that gets damaged if that happens.  I live in a similar type of arrangment where my landlord is my cousin.  Whenever it comes to stuff like this it gets kinda sticky but you just gotta remeber, if it damages their property and they have to pay for it, thats one thing.  If it damages your property... well no you\'ve got a valid gripe.  If theres anything that I\'ve learned in living underhim for 5 or so years... never let things go that far.

[wildcoyote]

Is the roof one floor up? More?

Pitch of the roof?

[SlimPickens]

I walked outta my condo a couple weeks ago and some renter drove her SUV through the front window of her place.  Thought the truck was in reverse.  Imagine making that phone call to your landlord.

"Um, are you sitting down?  Yeah, you probably should."

[weekapaug19]

report it, try to clean as much up as you can and try to get a break on rent for a month......it sucks doing somebody else\'s job, but you don\'t want to be stuck without a place to live when they need to fix all the mold damage.

[phirehead]

We had sort of the same problem where the gutters weren\'t draining properly and our window in the living room began to leak.
We were lucky in that, within a day of notifying the condo association, they came out and fixed it. It was just a matter of drilling a hole to fix the issue and we haven\'t had a problem since.

[FrankZappa]

Heating wire

[derickw]

i work for a company where we are hired by building owners and condo associations who are having moisture intrusion issues. i work in the design department. Slim\'s list of suggestions is your first course of action. the fact that this is happening is not your fault in anyway. it\'s because the snow on the upper part of the roof is melting and by the time it gets to the bottom of the roof line it freezes up and just keeps building. so you either add insulation to the upper part of the roof or insulate/ heat the lower portion of the roof. but the solution depends on how the overhang/ roof is set up. mold growth depends on 3 factors; moisture (not necessarily water but also condensation within the wall), a food source (anything organic or with organic contents.... pretty much anything), and temperature range (causing dewpoint to be reached resulting in condensation. which isn\'t that hard to achieve.

or i could be totally wrong........ and gnomes come by in the middle of the night and poor water on your roof

[FrankZappa]

damn gnomes!