We had just signed the paperwork on a loan for a new car (our first consumer debt as a married couple).  We had a lousy interest rate, but were thrilled to have shiny new wheels.

And then we came home to discover a giant, dripping stain on our living room ceiling of our 1920s home.

We had an ice dam, which occurs when the heat escaping from your home causes the snow on your roof to melt and than freeze and then melt again.  The ice dam causes damage to your roof and can start leaking into your home as it melts.  Once an ice dam starts, the only thing you can really do is to fix the damage and then try to prevent it from happening in the future.

We ended up paying a ridiculous $250 to a company that spent an hour chipping away the ice, and then of course, we still had to scrape together the money to fix the damage to our ceiling.

Oh, how I wish we’d seen How to Prevent Ice Dams from Reuben’s Home Inspection Blog at StructureTech. before we called anyone.

Reuben has some great advice for not only getting rid of an ice dam, but from preventing them in the first place.  It’s a must read for anyone who has had a lot of snow this year.

In our case, we added some additional insulation to our attic and made sure to use a snow rake to remove the snow from the roof during heavy storms and that seemed to alleviate the problem.  We’ve since moved to a new house and haven’t had any trouble, but I’m still always watchful for potential problems.

During these long winter months, be sure to glance up at your roof now and then.  It’s much easier (and cheaper!) to deal with an ice dam on the roof before you have to deal with a leak inside your home.