How do you prevent aggravating freeze related problems?

[repairman54]

Trick for frozen gutters and downspouts?

If you have snow melt off your roof when it's below 30F it's not vented properly or not enough attic insulation or both.
Nothing should be melting off the roof when it's in the twenties.
Have a buddy in PA with a ridge vent on his roof, snow covers it, and it doesn't breathe and roof melts off causing ice dams in his gutters. He has to load them up with salt or ice melter to stop ice damming. I keep telling him to put those gable vents in but....
Look around the neighborhood, the roof with snow on it the longest is a healthy roof with good insulation.

 

[Warstud]

Trick for frozen gutters and downspouts?

Yea ..... clean out the debris so the water can run out.

 

[Pablo]

If you have snow melt off your roof when it's below 30F it's not vented properly or not enough attic insulation or both.
Nothing should be melting off the roof when it's in the twenties.
Have a buddy in PA with a ridge vent on his roof, snow covers it, and it doesn't breathe and roof melts off causing ice dams in his gutters. He has to load them up with salt or ice melter to stop ice damming. I keep telling him to put those gable vents in but....
Look around the neighborhood, the roof with snow on it the longest is a healthy roof with good insulation.

Didn't start melting until 32°F or so. Still a bunch up there an and it's 50°F

The gutters and downspouts are clear of debris - but got clogged with ice - then it started raining HARD. The worst offender is over the uninsulated part of the garage - which just makes the whole mess worse.

 

[tbm5690]

If you have snow melt off your roof when it's below 30F it's not vented properly or not enough attic insulation or both.
Nothing should be melting off the roof when it's in the twenties.
Have a buddy in PA with a ridge vent on his roof, snow covers it, and it doesn't breathe and roof melts off causing ice dams in his gutters. He has to load them up with salt or ice melter to stop ice damming. I keep telling him to put those gable vents in but....
Look around the neighborhood, the roof with snow on it the longest is a healthy roof with good insulation.

A roof with dark shingles on a 20 degree day in direct sunlight absolutely will melt snow regardless of insulation and venting. Additionally, radiation alone can melt at temps well below freezing.

 

[twouvakind]

Place some wax paper on the floor.

Or parchment paper

 

[Ws6]

So this weather system is entering my area of the US Midwest and I'm doing the things to make my life as easy (or as close to normal) as possible.
One of the winter wonderland challenges I have faced that I just don't have a good solution for is the freezing of my garage doors to the concrete slab.
I wipe the rubber seal as best as I can and hope it doesn't freeze while I'm in the house and snug and warm.
What are some practices BITOG community members use to keep the garage door from freezing to the floor slab?
What are some of your other Winter Wonderland challenges and your solutions to these?

I live in the Midwest, also. I put a 500w stock tank heater in my dog/chicken's water basin, and I put insulation in the coop's window so air doesn't blow through. No other changes necessary.

 

[Cruzer4326]

Wait. Your car fits in your garage?

It's 24' X 40'.
2 of them still do....

 

[Cruzer4326]

Trick for frozen gutters and downspouts?

Yeah, this is a problem for me too, Especially on the gutters on the west and north sides of the house and detached garage.
I've thought about getting heat trace cable but that's going to be a huge pain to install and monitor.

 

[Ws6]

Wait. Your car fits in your garage?

If your car doesn't fit in your garage, you have a storage shed.

 

[Pablo]

Yeah, this is a problem for me too, Especially on the gutters on the west and north sides of the house and detached garage.
I've thought about getting heat trace cable but that's going to be a huge pain to install and monitor.

It's something - right now - the solution is more hassle than dealing with the consequences of the rare occurrence HERE. Most of the time we just need good gutters that flow, period. Freezing is OK. It's just when deep snow, freeze and rapid thaw with hard rain.....all within hours.......