I was incredulous and quite horrified when I looked up to the 18-foot ceiling in our living room on hearing a steady drip-drip to see winter snow melt-water falling to the floor, coming through from the roof, one winter about dozen years ago. There was nothing wrong with the roof, we were soon to learn. It was an ice dam that had built up that winter due to a plentiful snow coverage and a January freeze-and-thaw cycle. We called in a roofer and had the roof cleared of snow and the problem stopped.

Once again, in Ottawa, environmental and weather conditions have conspired to re-create that nightmare for many people. Roofing companies cannot keep up with the demand for snow clearance off the roofs of their houses.  We had our roof re-shingled a few years ago and there was a good rubber membrane laid down under the shingles to keep this type of thing from happening; older houses and houses with less costly and careful roof replacements are susceptible to this phenomenon.

"Once you get a large volume of snow and you get a thaw, then you get ice-damming. A dam of ice forms at the ease of a shingled roof and prevents the melting snow from running off the roof. It ponds at the edge of the roof and tends to force its way back up under the shingles. And that's what causes the leaks", is the explanation proffered by a roofing company representative.

This area has received over 76 centimetres of snow.  Environment Canada did advise that we could expect a traditional Ottawa Valley winter this year; plentiful snow, cold temperatures and we have.  It is yet early in the season, yet area roofs are three-feet deep in snow. High winds have failed to sweep roofs clean because of the prevailing conditions where freezing rain then snow conspired to ensure that snow packs would adhere to surfaces.  As they have done in the encircling forests, causing no end of damage to tree limbs, and bringing down power lines.

I remember one year quite a long time ago when my husband laddered himself up on the roof of our house, which has a very high roof. He anchored himself with a stout rope to the chimney then set about clearing the snow off the roof, a laborious, difficult job with a high, partly-steeped roof.  I have no wish to see that repeated.