You don't need gutters to form a damn dam.  You need an upper part of
the roof to warm and create run off, and a lower cooler part, an wide
eave will do nicely on a heated building.  If the gutter is causing the
dam, its probably mounted too high...like all the houses in my
neighborhood.  Someday I'm gonna get ups some real ambition and go fix
mine...or not.

-jc

On Tuesday, February 25, 2003, at 09:18  PM, Ralph Walter wrote:

> In a message dated 2/25/2003 6:55:23 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> I came away convinced the implimitation of modern gutters were
> probably a principle cause of the rot. The church has wide overhangs
> which would tend to form ice dams. The addition of gutters very likely
> exacerbated this condition and added one more dam.
>
>
>
> Ah hah!!!
>
> My only question is how ice dams would have formed without gutters in
> the first place, since it seems to me that the snow and ice would just
> keep running off and would never get a chance to form a dam.
>
> I get icicles on my roof in several places, but don't think they form
> dams. Or do they?
>
> Ralph