What makes ice dam prevention in Cobourg its own problem
There is a rhythm to ice dam prevention work in Cobourg: a quiet summer, a frantic October, and a winter of emergencies that were visible in September.
Air-sealing and window upgrades have made Cobourg homes far tighter than they were designed to be, and a tight house starves a natural-draft appliance of the make-up air it needs.
Range hoods and basement bathroom fans routinely out-pull an older flue, so the house depressurises and the flue reverses — a Cobourg problem that looks like a chimney fault but starts elsewhere in the building.
Across Legion Village, Cobourg Beach, Elgin Park, New Amherst and Burnham Street, the housing stock changes street by street, and the correct method changes with it. A century home with a soft-brick stack does not get the same treatment as a 2010 build with a factory-built vent — using one method on both is how systems get damaged.
the practical takeaway is that a ice dam prevention visit should start with an assessment, not a tool. Any crew that begins work before telling you what they found is guessing on your behalf.