The local factors behind ice dam prevention in Peterborough
Two houses on the same Peterborough street, built the same year, can need completely different ice dam prevention work — and usually do.
Snow load and ice damming stress the roof-to-wall junction each winter; by spring the sealant that was doing the work has usually torn.
Air-sealing and window upgrades have made Peterborough 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.
Across Otonabee, Lansdowne, East City, Chemong Park and Northcrest, 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.
If you live anywhere near the Peterborough Lift Lock, 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.