Today the installer shows up to take a look, Little did i know the original owner had sold out. The guy that purchased this roofing business, Said he would have to wait until spring to fix the problem witch I totally understand. His solution to the problem is to unlock each panel and apply sealer to the seams ? I expected to be asked about my attic insulation and ventilation, But was not . Should the house and the eves have been flashed ? I have seen this on different installation procedures. Now I have no way to improve my attic insulation / ventilation so that is not a option. Also this roof being 12 years old when it was new the snow did slide off it ……. What does it need a wax job But for real is unlocking the seams a good idea ?

Yes, having a low slope roof can be a great challenge, I personally believe that one should never install roofing shingles on any roof that has a pitch of less than 4 to 12. I think you will benefit by reading an ice dam prevention guide for lower slopped roofs.

Alex

I read about ventilation, but doesn’t it make sense that when enough snow falls on the roof and the ridge vent is covered, ventilation goes to zero. Even with the best insulated attic there will be heat loss and possibly radiant heating due to the sun (on my south facing roof) that will heat the attic area enough to melt the snow on the roof. So ice dams will occur unless you remove the snow covering the ridge vent. I just have never read anything mentioned about making sure it is clear, which requires getting up on the roof to do so.

For anyone considering metal roofing, bear in mind that the new methods of fixing steel roofing make it the most cost effective HIGH WIND resistant roofing material available today. If you just happen to live in a hurricane area, well have a look at this page if you are interested.
builderbill-diy-help.com/roof-sheeting.html

Cheers
Bill

If you simply want to ventilate the space so the shingles do not melt, you would have to install a water-tight horizontal exhaust vent along the entire length of the house. This vent would have to be installed just under the pitch change line, so the water would not get in.

This should improve ventilation, but may not be sufficient to have shingles last as long as they are supposed to – they will still fry, but not as rapidly.

Additional drawback of this method is that the cold air in the winter will enter your home … or vise-versa, warm air will escape. But the effect will be the same – you will spend more on heating as there will be cold air inside your walls.

Best thing in my mind is to install a metal roof which would reflect most of solar heat anyway, and you won’t have to ventilate this space, so heat loss will be minimal. The GAF DeckArmor underlayment will help the wooden deck breath, without much air circulation.

Since you will be replacing the roof anyway, the costs will be not too far off if you go with a cool metal roof instead of shingles with exhaust vent.

Funny you should mention the pool roof at Brown (my alma mater).

We have less of an ice dam problem and more of a melting asphalt shingles problem… but I believe it is the same problem (incorrect insulation/ventilation). Our home faces south and has a gambrel roof with an attic crawl space between the dormer windows. Fiberglass insulation was installed under the roof decking. The second summer after we moved in, the shingles started softening and tearing themselves off the steep part of the roof. So we removed the insulation (insulated the floor and walls of the crawl space instead), but it still gets roasty toasty in there. We would like to ventilate that space with soffits + vents into the proper attic (over the bedrooms) but have been stymied by a 1×6 or 2×6 that runs the entire length of the house, at the angle where the two roofs meet. Because it is the front of the house, I’d rather not install mushroom vents.

Is this the kind of modification that would require removing the roof decking to fix? I hate drilling blind. We are going to have to replace the roof anyway as the shingles are quite literally fried.

Curran

Thank you for your feedback.

I have seen similar architectural design flaw in Swimming pool building of Brown University, All the snow would slide down the middle from both sides, and eventually it caused a huge dent and a leak in the middle of this very expensive and custom designed metal roofing system. So you are not alone.

Now one of the things you could do, is have snow guards installed on the sides of the metal roof, where the snow slides down the middle of the roof. By doing that you could slow down some of the snow from coming down. Another solution is to pay a roofing company to clean the snow of the flat roof every time it snows. It is expensive and may be your last resort. Now, the question I am asking myself is why does the snow that falls on the middle portion melts underneath the snow pack, which causes your ice dams. Are there some warm air leaks on the sides of the roof that is in direct contact with the fallen snow? Perhaps, finding the sources where warm air escapes in the attic, or through the walls and warms up the snow, and insulating those places so the warm air cannot affect the snow that gets piled up on the flat portion can be a long term fix. That, and the snow-guards on the side to slow down the onset of snow tumbling down can reduce the impact of the snow that melts on that flat roof. If you send me some pictures I might be able to provide more info to help you resolve this problem. Also, I would recommend checking your attic for proper insulation, because it may be that the melted water is coming down from the metal roof and when it reaches the flat portion, it refreezes and forms an ice dam. So if you can insulate and ventilate your attic space, then you might be able to completely solve your problem. Hope this helps and Good Luck,

Alex

I have a metal roof, the most complicated portion of which comes together directly above our main entrence way.

Basically, the house consists of two triangles — ^ — that intersect each other perpendicularly, one slightly taller than the other.

Where the two triangles intersect in the front of the house, there is a lower, flatter, porch roof that overhangs our front entrance.

Most of the roof sheds snow beautifully, but the flatter porch roof — which is over an open-air porch — does not. Making matters worse, snow and water pour from both pitched roofs onto the porch roof, particularly over the entry way, and huge, dangerous ice and snow dams build up.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this problem?