Quick House Assessment and Crazy Weather

K came by yesterday while plowing the driveway and gave us a quick assessment to the roof situation, and like most things in life, there was good news and bad news. The bad news is that the roof is clearly leaking and needs to be dealt with at some time. K could see water damage on the ceiling and said it was clear the water was getting in and at some point needed to be dealt with. He also mentioned that the root of the problem was more than likely in some inadequate insulation on that section of the ceiling.

The good news is that since the leaking was due to ice buildup and not a big hole in the roof, it wouldn't require replacing the shingles, at least not in the short term, and could very well be avoidable if I can just keep all that ice off the roof. I.e., I've got to be more diligent about clearing the snow off the roof, and I've got to clear more of it off, on the order of all of it. I was originally told to just remove the snow about foot off the edge to avoid icicle formation, but even when I did that, I could plainly see that the ice simply formed further up the roof, and now I'm suffering for my sins. At least there is a remedy, if not a solution.

There is also a problem with our front porch with leaking. When the roof is doing it's job of keeping water off the deck, we're fine, but once that deck gets wet, it's like a sponge. I don't get it, personally, I don't see how the water gets in, but it does, probably through the grout, and then it flows to the basement. We're getting rot on the floor, you can see it in the basement, which is a complete bummer. The long range goal would be to replace the floor, a huge job, but in the short term, keep that darn water off the deck. I've got to come up with a plan, but for now can just abate the situation by using a tarp. Sure, it looks awful, but beats having rotting floorboards.

Funny how Marty never mentioned these things. It stems from a flawed design on the porch, the thing is angled towards the house so all the water that hits it flows and collects against the front door. It's got nowhere to go but inside.

Yet another project for the Summer.

The weather thew us a curveball, as well. As much as I love snow, I was taken by surprise by how much we got, and it's wet. The ground is still soft, so when K plows it, it comes up mud. The bright note is that the skiing will last a little longer, if I can motivate the kids to want to go. Maybe today...

Until then, thanks for reading.