The customer had been experiencing ice dams for over 30 years. Raking the roof every winter was just a part of their normal routine and they learned that taking a vacation during the winter was not possible after coming home to ice dam damage and water intrusion. Upon consideration of selling their home, they were curious to see if this long-standing problem could be resolved because they did not want to pass on the burden of ice dams to a new potential homeowner.
A home performance assessment was conducted to create a specific scope of work aimed towards preventing ice dams and improving overall home performance. It was determined that air sealing, adding insulation to the attic and ensuring proper attic ventilation was necessary. The work was performed and a final test was conducted to gather data for comparison. The overall air leakage of the home was reduced by 20%. Not only are ice dams no longer an issue, but the overall energy efficiency and comfort of the home have greatly increased. Now the homeowners feel that anyone would be lucky to live in their high performance home.
