February 15, 2010
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MORE SNOW?!? REALLY? COME ON! …
Chewy loves the snow. She really loves the snow. I on the other hand only enjoy the snow. It’s nice to watch it fall. It’s nice to play around in it. It makes a picturesque landscape. But at this point I’m tired of the snow. Tired of shoveling it. Tired of driving around in poorly plowed roads. And now I’m tired of trying to protect our house from it.
After helping my brother all weekend with some stuff we came home and noticed a six inch oval of a wet spot on the ceiling underneath one of the bedrooms. Water some how started to leak into the house and basically went down one level already. I guess I was too tired and it was too dark to realize where the water was coming in last night but this morning much to my dismay it looks like the water is coming in and around a window sill.
Looking at the house from the outside, the snow has started to slide down the roof but with all the melting during the day and icing at night there looks to be an ice damn on the backside of the house. Even with the downspouts cleared there’s just too much snow and ice on the backside of the roof.
Stuff like this makes me crazy. During snowmageddon I diligently knocked off any forming icicles, moved snow off the porch roof and tried to clear the gutters and downspouts. The only thing I really couldn’t do was get the snow off the roof. The ice damns finally caught up to me. ugh. As I’m currently in a crazed mood trying to contain the water with a towel into a bucket I’m trying to figure out how to get the snow and ice off the roof.
Standing on a chair, I hang halfway out the window with a hammer chiseling the ice off. I use a rake to try and go above and back over the snow to try and push it off the roof. I then remember the calcium chloride and pantyhose trick. Basically you fill pantyhose with this stuff and lay it across the ice damn. The stuff will melt the damn off and you should regain water flow off the roof. OK. Gotta find calcium chloride and pantyhose.
Home Depot has got calcium chloride. Check. Now to Walmart for pantyhose. But what do I really know about pantyhose? Bank robbers use it. It tears easily. There are different colors. That’s about it. While in Walmart I’m trying to figure out what to buy when this old lady comes up to me and starts asking me questions about pantyhose. She’s like:
Lady: You look like you know what you doing.
Me: Really? I’m a guy buying pantyhose. Really?
Lady: Do you see any black colored ones?
Me: uhhhhh, here are some. Wait, I think there are for girls. ummmm yeah. <And then I sheepishly walk away>I ended up buying some knee high versions. I fill them up and while halfway hanging out the window again lob them onto the roof. Some throws are good. Some are not and then the calcium chloride bombs land on our deck. I think I trudged back and forth between the deck and window about 10 times. It was sad. I figure though these bombs are probably just lying on the roof but not really near the ice damn. I really should have bought full length leg pantyhose. This way I can sling them up and have them at least perpendicular to the ice damn to open up a hole right off the roof. So back to Walmart for more pantyhose.
That’s when I see our neighbor and we start talking about the snow and it getting into our house and apparently their house as well. They have the same problem though they’ve been living with it for several days now. I tell them my plan about calcium chloride and pantyhose. I offer to get them some calcium chloride and pantyhose since I’m heading that way. They’re now onboard with trying to remove ice damns on our roofs.
I really shouldn’t have bought the cheapo pantyhose. After filling the legs and tying it off a few have already started to have runs in them. One actually bursts while I’m trying to sling it to the roof. I tie it down further and try and get it on the roof. More back and forth between retrieving them from our deck and throwing them on our roof. All in all I think there are four full leg lengths and six knee high packets on the roof.
I’d have to imagine this will work or I just made things worse…
I hate the snow sometimes
