Dripping, drying and funny tastes

[hellziggy]

I had planned to post earlier tonight as part of my goal of actually posting on LJ more than once every few weeks. But balancing the checkbook took precedence. At least that's done now. I also didn't post right away because I've fallen behind on reading y'all so I'm currently going back through my flist trying to see what I've missed. Don't be surprised if you start getting random comments to older posts. :)

We have to actually plan when to do laundry now here at the HellHouse, instead of just doing it when we need it or have time. Our dryer quit working about 2-3 weeks ago. When you hit the button it does about half a rotation then just stops and turns off. We don't know yet if it's fixable or if we'll have to replace it. Either way, until we have one we are washing our laundry here and then running to the laundromat 5 blocks away to dry it. I'm also going to get some rope to string in the basement and some clothes pins so that we can hang stuff to dry that we don't need right away.

Then I got to wipe up water in the dining room. The whole snow - melt - rain - freeze - thaw - etc of this winter caused an ice dam on our roof and now we have water coming in through the frame of one of our dining room windows. I don't know the specifics of how ice dams work or if it's a permanent leak now or what, but hellbob was pretty upset by it so I know it's not good. And the way our windows are set up there was really no good way to put a bucket under it. Luckily we have a camera tripod, so we've got a cake pan balanced on that with one edge on the window sill. *sigh*

My toothpaste tastes funny. I don't know if we just bought the wrong version of Colgate Total last time, or if they've changed it. I just know the taste is a tiny bit different. I'd bet that hellbob didn't even notice. But I've always been particular about having to use the same brand of toothpaste everytime and I don't like it when the tastes change! The off taste was bothering me all day until I ate lunch. I don't want to brush my teeth before bed even though I know I should!

And on that note, I'm off to brush my teeth and go to bed. G'nite all!

Comments

[ethel.livejournal.com]

Here's how ice dams work: Roofs are warmer than the rest of the outside of your house because you lose heat through the roof. So the snow melts and runs down the slope of the roof until it reaches the edge. Then there's nothing to really keep it warm anymore, so it freezes and fills the gutters. And then the water behind it keeps rolling down, and it freezes too. This keeps happening until the frozen ice on the edges of the roof gets too high for the water behind it to trickle over, so the water has nowhere to go. It just backs up on the roof behind the ice dam and sits there and can't melt because of the escaped heat from the house. Standing water on roofs is not good -- it gets under the shingles and comes into the house walls and leaks in, usually around the doors and windows. We've had a great setup this winter for them -- heavy snow, followed by a series of thaws and freezes.

Things to fix the ice dam include, for now, getting the snow off your roof so the stuff right next to the shingles can freeze, and clearing the gutters of ice. This summer you will probably have to track down the roof damage and fix it.

For long term, the most effective way to prevent them is pretty easy -- more insulation in the attic. This will prevent heat loss, and have the added benefit of lowering your heating bills and making the house more comfortable.

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

Great. Roof damage. That roof was new in August 2008. If we've never had them before, could it be caused by them installing the new roof wrong?

I'm thinking it was probably mostly caused by the freezing rain, because we've never had issues before. The woman who had the house before us insulated the hell out of the attic so we never get icicles except during a melt and our heating bills are wonderfully low.

[ethel.livejournal.com]

Too long to post here, but I wrote an entry on my lj about it.

[genevra.livejournal.com]

Dad has a roof rake, if you don't have one.