Question for U.S and Canadian members affected by the icy blast?

Cobaltic1978
reply to post by bobs_uruncle

 

It can get pretty cold at night on the plains of South Africa, but nothing compared to the weather you're experiencing.

Sorry can't help financially, if I could I would, believe me.

If I was independently wealthy, so would I. I imagine I would be fulling a lot of requests LOL.

Cheers - Dave

reply to post by tothetenthpower


God damn ice dams

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


Yeah the eaves are caked in about a foot of ice. My roof until last night had about 4 1/2 feet of snow on it.

Try all I wanted, there was no breaking that dam last night. I'm gonna go back up there later and see if I can get it now that it melted and then refroze.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Damn.
Ice dams? Leaky roof?
Crappy - that'll be a lot of dusty work, maybe rot to fix too

Last year I noticed what looked like melting paint on the inside of an exterior wall. Now it's all open ( insulated, plasticized), we discovered rotten wood, and I have to shovel the roof corner where it ice dammed.
We have to gut out the whole wing of the house from water damage. It'll probably stay plasticized for another year.....$$$$$

Previous owners did a good job of covering damage....

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Best of luck buddy, stay safe.

reply to post by snowspirit

Previous owners did a good job of covering damage....

They always do don't they?

Thanks for the concern. Got to -2F last night, but up to 12F this AM. We here in Alabama aren't used to weather like this. The only help I will need is to pick me up off the floor when I see my heating bill in a few weeks. My normal heater won't handle under 32F so I had to switch to the very expensive emergency heat backup system. With that, our gas fireplace and heated blankets we are keeping cozy.

We have a Russian exchange student. She has said it finally got cold here. Her family from near Mongolia considers 40F to be warm.

Everyone I know is taking the whole thing quite well, until the bills arrive and then we'll need lots of smelling salts.

reply to post by snowspirit


I was gonna have our roof redone this year anyway, not just the shingles but a whole top floor strip and re-do.

The upstairs was very poorly divided when it was first built. One of the 'storage' rooms with a low lying ceiling is bigger than the actual bedroom up there.

So I suppose this just makes it so I'm going to have to do it.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower


My condolences, Tenth, and it's nice to know that you had planned on roof repairs already. It's just so very unfortunate that you're going to possibly need drywall repairs/painting, too. Water damage is such a pain. Had to deal with that myself a couple years ago but found a handyman that did it those repairs for a reasonable price.

I'm not in the cursed by the polar gods region either so add my well wishes to ya'll freezing your tootsies off. Here's to hoping warmer weather comes your collective way soon.

Why the heck is it in the 30's in FL? That is NOT why we live in FL! Hehe.... Just crazy here. How do you folks start your cars in colder places? When I lived in Alaska, I remember we basically had some kind of heating rig up, but I was too young to recall the details. My truck does NOT like the cold. Once going, it's fine, but yikes....

Cobaltic1978
How are you holding up? Do you have enough supplies? Anyone need any help?

I ask this from a quite mild U.K, it's roughly 45 Degrees F, and although we have experienced cold snaps here, nothing can compare to what you guys are going through.

Stay warm (as warm as you can), but most of all stay safe!!

Bloody global warming eh?

Not a cloud in the sky, but it is still below freezing here.

Meh. I have tons of hunting gear that i pull out for the cold days. Today i wore my beige digital camo

reply to post by Gazrok


Most have block heaters, and in Saskatchewan (probably Manitoba too) there are plugins everywhere.
If you're just going to get groceries, and you're only going to be in there for a half hour or so, we carry an extra set of keys, and leave the vehicle running.
It takes 20 minutes to warm up the vehicle when first starting.
Anti idling laws don't apply in extreme cold.

We go through a lot of gas, and a new battery every couple of years. Windshields too. I watched mine crack as I was driving through an ice storm.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I feel your pain. On top of multiple ice dams, our boiler s@*% the bed. I had to move my fwife and 3 kids into my brothers place. We arent really sure where we are going to get the cash to put in a new furnace, and replumb the entire house, thankfully we are more than welcome here for as long as we need. Im sure if insurance does decide to cover it we will be waiting a while.

this is probably a stupid idea but it could work maybe.

You know those huge plastic tents you use to cover the whole house for fumigating?

Would putting on of those on your house offer any extra protection by sealing off the house from the snow and ice? Ive been in houses with those on and they are always super hot inside hehehhe

reply to post by awh666


I'm in the Moncton area, so I feel your pain Sir.

Hopefully you have that 'act of God' clause in your insurance so they'll cover it.

Look into the Tax Savings Program though for re-doing your house. There are TONS of grants you can get from the provincial and fed governments to do remodeling on your home.

www.takeadvantage.ca...

Hope that helps.

~Tenth

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


Another MI person - I stocked up on everything I'd need until about Jan 8th, before the last snowstorm hit. When it snows like this, I prefer to park under a structure in my complex, and walk everywhere (at least I can stop my own two feet if needed).

The only thing that I needed was the roads plowed better, as my poor car barely wanted to start and move this morning. Once it did though, there were just a couple slides into work, which was a far better commute than last Thursday.

As for dealing with the cold - My cat has 3 soft blankets made into a "nest", and when I went out today, I had a couple layers on, mostly because I walked a mile in this cold. Traversing the 3-4 foot snowdrifts was fun, especially when one side was solid enough to stand on, and the next step forward would sink to the bottom.

-fossilera