no experience with ice dams, but looking at the pics your insulation isn't the same depth from rafter bay to rafter bay.

look at the depth by comparing how much of the rafter is exposed.

the last rafter bay has half the insulation of the ones next it.

I'd also be concerned that the end of the rafter bays are fully sealed

and insulated. air leakage at soffit area would contribute to ice

dams imo.

best of luck

I just checked and in real life there's no difference in insulation deth... I don't know why the picture shows otherwise, maybe it's the lighting when I took the picture.

@klem1 : maybe I'm being paranoid, it could just be icicles due to natural weather conditions, like you say.

I have no opinion on your installation there - but I would not call call those ice dams. As klem1 put it up above, sun will heat up snow, some will flow down roof to edges, and icicles form as water drips down. Normal when conditions are right. Will happen at overhangs and corners.

I would worry about ice dams/collections where blocks of ice are forming in either very large amounts and/or over 'house footprint' (over the parts of the roof that should be barriers to heat getting through). The main difference being that it should not be the heat from the house that's doing the melting, but the air/sun/environment, and the roof evenly cold in most places (except for sun/shade differences). Note in the real world there's probably always some heat from below getting up, but should be only a bit

X-posted in remodeling

Normal with freeze thaw, if the icicles
get huge then perhaps not. Only other idea is heat escaping from windows
is getting in the soffit. Icicles seem more above the windows. Perhaps
insulate roof inside the soffit as well.

If snow accumulates a lot you need to remove it off the roof with a
roof rake. Roof can hold a fair amount of weight but a lot of snow gets
pretty heavy.

Here’s my take. We live in the land of deep freezes.
Temperature this morning was about -12˚F. Cold enough?

I would spray foam the ceiling, in the attic and that’s it.
I would have open soffits and good roof ventilation. You want to keep the heat
in the envelope of the house. Once it’s left the envelope of the living space
and escaped to the attic – it’s over. You then want the attic to be the same
temperature as the outside so as to not develop moister, mold, rot, water
damming, etc.

You also want sufficient air movement and removal during the
hot summer too.

We also use a roof vent, common here, I don’t know if it’s
common in the States, which is designed to stick up through any accumulation of
snow so that snow cannot block airflow.

Hope this helps.

IMPO

SR

"Maxi-Vent"

Did you read? There is no attic. Just the roof joists. There are only two ways to do it:

1. Seal the joist space with spray foam or

2. Run a baffle from soffit to a ridgevent for venting the roof and insulation with warm sided vapor barrier in the joist space.

Obviously both are harder in cold climate which needs more R value. Possible to put sleepers to increase joist depth for more insulation.

Yes in houses with attic, fully vent the attic and attic temp should be similar as outside. Proper intakes at soffit and exhausts near the top, ridge vent preferred.

Yup, You're right - no attic!

Never mind.

SR