I need Help! We live in Farmington, New Hampshire. We average 3 to 5 feet of snow each winter, occasionally more. Our home is a two-story 28’ by 34’ Dutch style gambrel-roof log home. The second floor portion is completely constructed using trusses except on the gable ends. All portions of roof were built with 24-inch on center trusses. The attic is strictly a crawl space as it is barely 5-feet at the center with a 28-foot overall width. It appears to be around a 4 or 5 to 12 pitch.
Here is our problem. Each winter we get ice dams on the edges of each side of the main roof sections, and I get loads of ice build up atop each of three roof windows placed in the second floor side roof. I have to get the snow off the roof practically every storm or face the resultant ice damming on the roof edge and atop each roof window. Several years ago, I went into the attic and discovered a very poorly insulated ceiling above the 2nd floor at R-19-faced without any plastic sheathing vapor barrier above the drywall ceiling and found that the insulation was very uneven. Although still mid-winter, the temp in the attic was quite warm by comparison. I managed to crawl (a very tight fit) over above the bay of a roof window and found absolutely no insulation above the unit and that the air space within each truss was filled with insulation with poorly installed proper vent. In the spring of that year I unfastened the planking on the eaves and removed the entire Styrofoam proper vent. With the help of a friend, we installed stapled together continuous plastic proper vent in between each truss from the eaves up to the pitch change and then added another 6 feet towards the ridge. The result gave good airflow in each truss opening to the top of the attic roof, except in the three truss openings where the roof windows were placed. I then added unfaced R-24 insulation into the space between the 1st and 2nd floors (16-inch on center/18-inch high truss) from the side roof opening into the space for 4-feet. Then I added additional unfaced R-11 insulation in the space between each side roof truss upward as far as I could making sure that it didn't impede the new plastic proper vent. I repositioned the attic insulation so that it fit in between each truss tighter. Our problem is that we still get ice dams on the main roof edges and above the roof windows. I would like to add thermostatically controlled exhaust fans on each gable end, but several building supply stores advise against that move. I’m at a loss as to what I can do to stop this problem. We have already had the roof re-shingled due to damage caused from repeatedly having snow removed. Can you help?
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