Reuban Saltzman from the Structure Tech Home Inspection Blog has a great post today on the MinnPost “Blog Cabin” about how to prevent or address ice dams.
If you don’t know what an ice dam is you were just like me before I moved into my first 1920s-built home on the Iron Range. They are collections of ice that form on roofs that cause rapid freezing and thawing inside the structure, usually prompting some sort of frustrating water damage in attics and ceilings. You sometimes don’t notice the damage until you see a growing rust-colored stain forming on your ceiling. By then you have few options to stop the damage.
So then you’re going to a call some company you’ve heard of because your buddy’s dad did some roofing for them, so you figure, hey, how bad could it be? And they say it’ll be $50 an hour for ice dam removal and you’re like, hey, that sounds a little high but what are you going to do, am I right? So these two guys show up and put up their ladder, see, and then go eat their lunch in their truck and you’re like, hey, that’s a little annoying but I guess a guy gets to eat lunch, whatever. So they crawl up on the roof and poke at the ice dam with their sticks and, after a little over an hour and 15 minutes, plus lunch in the truck, they come down and, boom, done. Fine. A little over an hour, no more than $100, right?
So the bill comes and it’s $250 and I call up the guy and I’m like, hey? And he’s like, oh yeah that was $50 an hour per guy. And I’m like hey, you didn’t say that. What are you paying these guys? And he’s all like, whatever. And then a few years later we built a four bedroom house in the woods and guess who we didn’t call for carpentry or roofing. Guess. Just guess. That’s right. Customer service, yo. Think about it.
Anyway, ice dams. They happen.
Speak Your Mind