3 Guys, 3 Hours to Shovel Off My Roof

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

I have never heard of an ice dam before. Now I’m nervous!! Our roof is asphalt shingles (but each one is quite big - more like a long strip maybe six feet by two) and is designed to STOP snow falling off it, with the idea that the snow insulates the roof more.

We only get about 60cm at most building up on it, and we have no gutters - does that help do you think??

We do get icicles on warmer days but none on very cold days which leads us to think its the rays of the sun (we face south) that does it, not heat loss from poor insulation. The icicles only fall at the end of the season and onto land that nobody can get to as the snow is so deep, so it’s safe.

42

If you’ve never heard of them, they probably aren’t an issue in your area. You can see them - they’re about 3-4 inches tall, right on the edge of your roof. How much is “very cold” in your area of Japan? What causes them here is a warm day, which starts the melting, followed by a really hard freeze. If it’s not really cold, the melt water can still run off underneath the snow (which does insulate, as you mention), and not get trapped.