Ice dams and eave leaks in North Syracuse, NY: what the eave needs, and what would make it more

The village chapter of the county hazard plan lists no winter weather exposure above the county norm. That is worth taking at face value. North Syracuse has the winter every part of Onondaga County has, and its eaves face the same freeze and thaw as everyone else's. Ice dams here are a normal winter problem, not a special local one.

The weather station that counts crossings for this part of the county is at Brewerton, in the north county, and it shows about 109 days a year when the temperature passes through freezing. Each crossing is a chance for melt to refreeze at the overhang. That is background for the whole area and not a count for your street.

The practical result is a clear question. Does the eave have the ice barrier and drip edge that state code asks for where ice has formed? On a house of the village's 1950s to 1970s vintage, that detail may come from a re-roof job and may or may not have been done. Ask what is under the shingles at the lowest course.

Photograph your eaves from the ground on a cold morning after a thaw. Ice only along the lowest edge, with clear shingles above it, is the pattern of a dam. Ice that forms in long sheets down a wall is a different story, and the roofer should hear which you have.

Match the timing of your stain to the weather. A stain that shows in a thaw and fades once it warms up is consistent with water backing up at the eave. A stain that shows in every heavy rain points elsewhere, and your roofer should know the difference before they climb up.

Get two numbers on one sheet, the eave rebuilt and the whole roof replaced. If the roof above the eave is sound, the smaller job may be right. If the boards at the edge are dark and soft, they belong in the eave price. If the deck is soft in many places, the bigger job is the honest one.

If water drips in, move what is below the stain and photograph the ceiling before anyone touches it. A roofer who sees the stain as it was can read it better.

The Department of Energy points to warm attic air as the upstream cause, which is a separate job from the roofing. Ask the roofer who would deal with it, and tell us the room and the month when you book.

Where ice has formed along the eaves, the code wants the ice barrier to start at the lowest edge and reach a point 24 inches or more in from the exterior wall. It is either two cemented layers of underlayment or one self-adhering sheet. Ask the roofer to write the distance they plan for your house, and ask where it ends up the slope.

Ask too whether the drip edge will be new. Shingle roofs need one along the eaves and rakes, and it is a small part that gets left off a thin estimate.

Finally, ask which rows of shingles come off. If only the lowest rows are removed, ask how the new rows tie into the old ones. A roofer who has a clear answer has done this before.

You are not asking for a miracle. A new eave detail is there to keep backed-up water off the deck, and it cannot stop a dam from forming on a warm roof. Be wary of anyone who says it will.

For a permit on eave work, ask the village office which office handles it for your address.