What we like in cold climates, is a cold roof. Insulation not in the roof joists, but in the ceiling above the room. Keep that ‘attic’ cold. Vent it. If the attic is warm, it’s gonna melt snow and create water for icicles. We don’t bother with gutters or storm doors. Snow will rip your gutters right off. And a storm door that opens outward (as they do) can (and will) trap you in the house.
Snow dams/fences on the roof and heat tape are a whole nother issue.
Yet another precinct heard from:
The patio roof we had when I was a kid produced the best icicles. Nothing remotely heated about the area under it.
Note that the sun would beam down on the top, not so much the edges.
Ya got me stumped. My father has oceanfront property which he does not use from November to March. The house was built 60+ years ago and not well insulated. Dad turns the heat off and drains the pipes. I check the property once a month or so during the winter. I never recall icicles in the 40+ years I’ve been doing this. So I called my son who has an unheated, detached garage that he has owned for five years. Neither he nor his wife recall ever viewing an icicle on said garage. Both properties are in Massachusetts.
We had a bad year back in 2012-2013 where due to the cycle of snow, sun and freezing, everyone in our neighborhood had massive ice dams and icicles
When we re-shingled our roof a couple of years later, we had two of the big whirlie-vents installed and we’ve not a recurrence of the issue. The wind turns the vents, which suck the air out of the attic and keep it nice and cold. Haven’t had the problem since.
Ice shield is a good idea in winter climates. It’s installed under the shingles and extends 3-5 feet up the roof from the eaves. Helps prevent ice damming.
Yes, we had that installed as well with the re-shingling.
I asked a policeman how they determine if the icicle is short enough to be evidence of a warm attic: do they compare it to a reference, and he said “policemen don’t have test icicles.”
Upper midwest. It takes the correct snow, temperature, sun combination but I’ve had 3-4" diameter icicles about 4-6’ hanging from my abandoned dairy barn. Not always but usually several times during the winter. Most often when it starts to get near melting. The roof heats but the eaves and gutters are wind chilled below freezing. Water eventually pools and slowly drips over the sides, freezing along the way. My shed has an 8’ overhang with a much lower slope than code allows and it generates pencil sized icicles quite often.