Blown-in insulation

[Katy Lied]

Sorry about that. Who puts slate on their roof any more?

How cut up is your roof? (Are there lots of peaks and valleys?) Heating lines to prevent ice dams just pushes the ice up further on the roof, in my experience.

I've built mansions in Park City and for my house, I would never put a cut up roof on it, and I would never penetrate the roof with a window or solar tube etc. Too many problems. The only thing I would put through the roof is probably a vent stack that you can super tar, and a chimney.

Maybe you're stuck with conditioning your attic space. Sucks.

[Surfah]

Sorry about that. Who puts slate on their roof any more?

How cut up is your roof? (Are there lots of peaks and valleys?) Heating lines to prevent ice dams just pushes the ice up further on the roof, in my experience.

I've built mansions in Park City and for my house, I would never put a cut up roof on it, and I would never penetrate the roof with a window or solar tube etc. Too many problems. The only thing I would put through the roof is probably a vent stack that you can super tar, and a chimney.

Maybe you're stuck with conditioning your attic space. Sucks.

This is the east coast. I love the old homes with slate roofs.

[Katy Lied]

This is the east coast. I love the old homes with slate roofs.

Sorry Pellegrino, I forgot you were in a different climate. I've built a lot of homes in Santa Barbara, and we used red tile clay for the roofs, which I love. They're beautiful. But I've come to terms with the fact that living in Utah I will never be able to have a red tile roof. The closest I will get is red concrete tiles that sort of appear to be the same color as a red tile roof.

As far as no penetrations in the roof, again, that's my own preference because I've spent far too long fixing roof problems. I only see the disasters so I forget that a lot of roofs are very sturdy and worry free. I should not have projected my own personal preferences onto your house.

I still get frustrated because I think with a little more thought put into the design, people can get the house they want, with minimal upkeep. In Utah you dont even have to be a licensed architect to design a 15,000 SF house. And some house designers dont consider maintenance or green issues when they design homes.

[pellegrino]

Sorry about that. Who puts slate on their roof any more?

How cut up is your roof? (Are there lots of peaks and valleys?) Heating lines to prevent ice dams just pushes the ice up further on the roof, in my experience.

I've built mansions in Park City and for my house, I would never put a cut up roof on it, and I would never penetrate the roof with a window or solar tube etc. Too many problems. The only thing I would put through the roof is probably a vent stack that you can super tar, and a chimney.

Maybe you're stuck with conditioning your attic space. Sucks.

The house was built in 1943, and it's the original roof . It's in good condition and if we're lucky it will last another 20 years or more. The roof is uniform all around, just the one small (useless) vent gable on the back.

I think there are two reasons we had ice such big ice dams this winter: 1. the amount of snow (record setting) 2. We installed AC this fall, which put six holes in the second floor ceiling for AC vents and ducts, none of which have been sealed with caulk or sprayfoam (found that out a week ago, not happy). The heat loss from those holes, coupled with the lack of insulation and no venting system created perfect conditions for ice dams. I'm confident that if we sealed the areas around the vents and blew in a good 18 inches of new fill it would help a lot, but I'm not sure it will eliminate the problem, which is what I'd like to do.