Yesterday I noticed drip stains from where water had gotten inside the house due to gutters that are frozen solid with snow and ice. When the sun shone on it, it must've dripped back between window trim and siding somehow.

The drip stains extend down both sides of my back kitchen door and caused all the paint to come up on the piece of trim that goes over the door.

It was very upsetting to see that; now I'm wondering if i have to worry about mold issues and/or if i can just sand, scrape and repaint that wood without worrying about it.

Today, I saw more damage, this time in my upstairs spare bedroom, directly above where that kitchen door is on the 1st floor. A length of baseboard about 3 feet in length is water stained and all the paint is coming up. The wall above it, and below the window, has a ripple in what i guess is damp sheetrock.



The worst thing is, there's a whole lot of frozen snow and ice still up there. I sure don't want to see this damage popping up on other walls, especially those I've wallpapered!

I called Ace Hardware and they have snow rakes they're selling for $43. They are aluminum and extend 16 feet, which should reach the gutters on my house, although with hard-crusted snow above my knees out there, it wouldn't be easy to work.

I don't know if I should try to do it before Tuesday, as they're forecasting very cold weather, a high of 15 or so daytime, 0 or below at night. Starting Tuesday, it should be a bit warmer, but they're also forecasting snow from then through the end of the week!

I already plan to leave all my faucets dripping at night and leaving cabinet doors open under each sink to try to prevent frozen pipes.