Wednesday 13 January 2010

Pride comes before a fall of snow

When we built our house, 20 years ago, we made sure to put lots and lots of insulation in the loft space as well as the partition walls and always felt a little bit smug when there was snow on our roof while our neighbours were obviously loosing heat and their snow was melting. It kind of backfired on us this year. The snow on our roof has seriously built up and the gutters are blocked with ice so there has been lots of dripping over the last couple of days when we've finally had a degree or so of thaw. We knocked down the icicles and moved some of the snow away from the gutters to try and relieve the situation.I've spent most of my time chipping away ice to keep our steps and paths clear, I found under the ice and unblocked the drain on the balcony so melt water could get away, I thought we were doing really well and the end was in sight. Then last night, just after I'd come in I heard a terrible noise like something crashing into the house and looked out to see that half the snow on the front roof had come crashing down onto the terrace bringing the gutters with it. Disaster. Mr FF is away on business for a few days and not home until late tonight but I spoke to him and he thought that my fears of the balcony collapsing under the weight or the rail being pushed over were unfounded, and I believe the engineer, he designed the structure. This is the view from the room that opens onto the balcony.
Just before I went to bed I heard the same sound as snow came off the side of the house and that has brought down more gutter.
I took a walk round this morning, keeping well away from the house, and found to my dismay that the guttering over the lean-to greenhouse is opening up with a huge amount of snow and ice looming over the glass roof. That is very worrying though there's nothing I can do apart from wait and see. I did dash in to rescue a few pots of spring bulbs, very foolish but I thought if I loose everything else they might make me feel a bit better and they are now safe in the conservatory, which isn't at risk.
Not a great disaster in the scheme of things and I am trying to concentrate on the plant buying possibilities, at my age I have a motley collection of plants that I keep going just because I have them, may be time to start again
While I wait I've cleared the pile of snow that landed outside the garage so Mr FF can get his car in when he comes home tonight and dug a pathway to the fuel store. The coal man had been early this morning and clambered over a metre high pile of snow that was blocking the way to the bunker, three times I assume as he'd delivered three bags. People are so kind, he will be getting a big thank you very soon. It's getting difficult to find places to heap all the snow, at present there is no hope of me getting my car out of the garage but that's not a problem I don't intend going out on my own just yet.
Now to wait for the crash, maybe a little sock knitting and some trashy tv will calm me.

19 comments:

  1. Oh dear oh dear..

    I know from experience that decks (balconies) can come down with large amounts of snow. There are two in our vicinity that have done just that. I keep ours shovelled but you can't shovel that lot!!I hope yours holds up and that it was as well built as you hope!!

    What a mess!! Is there any hope at all of a thaw in the near future? I hope your hubby can devise a way of getting rid of all that. It looks like you need a front end loader or something along those lines.

    Please keep updating so we know you're alright..

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  2. Oh and the green house!! Oh I hope that can be saved but it doesn't look like there's much hope by what the pictures show. I do so hope you will all be OK!!

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  3. Oh dear, I have seen quite a few gutters coming away with the weight of snow. Poor you, and nothing can be done till the thaw is over.
    I know, knit some socks!
    Love
    Lyn
    xxx

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  4. Oh heck :(

    Here's hoping it all melts soon and doesn't cause too many more problems.

    Vicki xxx

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  5. I think I'd start on the gin! Just a suggestion. xxxx

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  6. Oh I hope everything will be ok, I wish we were tosty warm our old terrace is ffffffreezing...thank you for all your kind comments recently sorry I havent been about....

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  7. Uh oh. As you say, there's not a lot you can do so stay safe, stay warm.

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  8. Hello there! So sorrry to hear that the beauty of the white stuff has turned into a bit of a disaster for you. It's just so upsetting isn't it, even though it's not the 'end of the world'. I hope you don't have to suffer the ill effects for too much longer. Keep safe and warm Jenny. Ros

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  9. I agree with Diane!

    Seriously though, I hope you don't sustain any more damage, but if you do remember it can all be repaired - just keep yourself safe.

    Anne.

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  10. Sorry to hear about your sudden fall of snow. Hope it doesn't do any more serious damage. Keep safe and warm inside, and knit!

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  11. That sounds scary, what a fright you must have had. I hope there's no more damage. I'd stay inside out of harm's way with some of that gin.......

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  12. I can imagine how you feel. My greenhouse is my baby and my pride an joy. Fingers crossed that it escapes in tact.

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  13. Oh, my goodness, Jenny! If it's any comfort, we had the very same thing happen last winter. On the south side of the house we lost two long sections of gutters due to snow and ice falling... it was awful. And as the winter was so snowy and long, it too ages until we could get it fixed properly--and expensive it was too! We had to repaint much of the railing on our terrace as that was affected from the fall. Oh, dear... I so hope we don't have repeat this year! I'm so sorry this has happened. Bad enough all the snow, but then not fun at all when things go wonky! Just glad you & Mr FF are OK... and those spring bulbs too. Do hope the weather takes a turn for the better everywhere soon and starts melting. Be safe, be cosy and be knitting :o) ((HUGS))

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  14. We're just not used to weather this bad are we! Lets hope a complete thaw isn't too far away.

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  15. That's an awful lot of snow, isn't ir?? It must have been quite frightening the first time it swooshed down.

    Hope it all goes soon off your balcony.

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  16. Oh that's bad! It is pretty but it can also wreak havoc too. Can you reach that roof over the greenhouse with a long handled broom and sweep some of that snow off to the side at all? Here's hoping no more damage is done.

    Stay safe, and if all else fails, knit!

    Brenda

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  17. Dropped by to see how you are and oh noes! I am sure your balcony will be fine, but having to worry about it is a hassle on its own.. Hopefully the snow will slowly melt on its own and you won't have to do anymore hacking. Snowy here too, perhaps unsurprisingly; I've been wearing hiking boots for weeks to avoid death by slippage or localized hypothermia.

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  18. that is a lot of snow! be safe.

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  19. That is a ton of snow, Jenny. Let me share a similar experience. It was a regular winter and snow was piling up. Then after a few days of staying indoors, my boyfriend went out to check our roof. To his surprise, it was almost a foot high, so he decided to rake some off. It took him 3 hours to complete the task. He then checked the gutters, but to his dismay, it was frozen solid. I told him to call for professional help since I thought it was too dangerous for him to go up on a snow-filled roof. They came in the next day and got everything fixed quickly.


    Chantay Smithingell

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