File Under: Homeowner Woes

So, about those icicles?

Problems. Big, big problems.

Icicles like that are caused by ice dams. Ice dams mean water can't get to my gutters which in turn means that the water has to go someplace. Usually that means leakage into the house. We are not the only ones in the area experiencing this problem - not by miles - and we probably wouldn't have an issue at all but for the fact that we got 24 inches of snow in 24 hours. Plus an additional 12-15 inches over the course of the following 10 days.

Generally, this problem means water running down your walls. But I got lucky, yes I did. We have been gifted with the slow seep. It appears to be coming in from the front porch somewhere. It is being sucked into the plywood subflooring thus warping the subflooring. In turn it is transferring the damp and the warp to the one and only real hardwood floor we have in the house. We have several planks buckling at this point.

Added to this joy was discovering that two of the tiles in the drop ceiling in our basement game room are water damaged. I can't move one of them because there is a light in the middle of it but I moved the other tile and saw the damp subfloor and the wet floor joist for the foyer flooring by the front door. I watched the water come down the joist and drip, drip, drip, every few seconds.

So, I moved things out of the way and placed a bucket to catch all those little annoying droplets. Unfortunately, this is the only visible water I can actually find. The rest of it is just slowly seeping into the flooring and screwing things up.

We contacted our homeowners insurance and were assured that it is covered by the insurance. But, we've also been told that there is very, very little that can be done (read: nothing) before this all thaws out and dries out. Once that happens we can assess the damage and go from there. We get to sit around for the next several weeks and watch this problem cause more damage the longer it goes on. The most we can do is mitigate the water as much as possible - which isn't much considering the slow seepage problem.

Pardon me while I pause to have a panic attack...

It could certainly be worse. We've been told of other people who have kitchen ceilings literally falling down. We don't have that problem. Yet. But, I have to admit, this is the part of owning a home that I really hate.