Our Country Cottage A Narrative

  On Second Thought 1-Roof design There is a valley over battery room hatch where snow collects and turns to ice. The valley is also on the north side so parts of it never see the sun. It is also over the battery room entrance, so every time you access the battery room it is literally hanging over your head. First year an ice damn formed and the melting ice backed up and started to drip between the rafters over the deck. Our contractor risked life and limb on a ladder to hammer the ice free. Sheets of ice up to 5 or 6 inches thick came down. I now duck tape a rubber mallet to the handle of the roof rake (16 feet long) and I can loosen the ice from the ground. Much safer. I have also acquired ladder stand-off arms that attach to a ladder and make it much safer if I have to use the ladder.   2-Where the cottage roof and the garage roof meet and over the entrances Both of the above have the same problem, snow accumulation. The snow collects on the roof then slides off (some times while you are standing there),