We are all property taxpayers of the City of Westfield, however, only if you live downtown or on a main road or state road did your street seem to be plowed in the past two storms. Even with the warmer weather today, 2/20, side roads are near impassible since they weren’t plowed and the amount of now melting snow is too much for storm drains (if there are any!) to handle. On the roads where melting happens to be occurring, the unplowed snow is creating gigantic puddles which are also nearly impassible and hiding in turn huge potholes! Whatever money the city feels it may have saved by not plowing and/or treating side streets in these storms is just going to be replaced by standing water and pothole repair. Please, DPW, we taxpayers would like our streets plowed with the rest of the city! Remember, the school buses, city trash trucks and federal post office trucks have to use our roads, too.
I just read the article about ice dams in the Friday, Feb 21st issue by Peter Francis. I wish the newspaper, and other media, would get the story straight and stop giving false info. What happens with ice dams is the heat from the house heats the snow from underneath and creates water (melting). As the water hits the soffit (overhang of the roof), the water freezes and creates ice. the melting continues and the water eventually feeds back upward of the shingles. Shingles are designed to handle water downward of the roof and not up. As the water is forced up, by the snow melt and water backing up, it leaks into the house. Now, why does this happen?? It is the lack of insulation in the attic or lack of GOOD insulation. Insulation will stop the heat from melting the snow and refreezing. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. This is a building science reality. You can spend money on roof racks, heating coils and roofers to come and clear the snow every winter OR you can call a certified insulation contractor to fix the problem and they will. In fact, you will also save money on your utility bill for years and years. I am not an insulator but I am in the weatherization building science business. Anyone with ice damming should look into better insulation and air sealing and stop spending money every year to put a band aid on a gushing wound. You are correct that one cause may be poor insulation. However, our sources report that many ice dam’s are caused by quickly melting snow and then rapidly freezing temperatures causing blockage at the edge of the roof near the gutters. Then subsequent melting and freezing patterns continue to back the water up under the shingles causing damage. Thanks for adding your comments.
