More Snow, More Ice, Less Salt

We had a snow storm on Feb. 9th & 10th. The wet snow was so heavy that it pushed the pine tree on to our porch. It looked like it wanted to come in from the cold. It bent even further to the ground by night fall. Past 9pm on the 10th workers who were clearing the walkways saw our snowy shambling mound and shook it's laden branches, freeing it and us.

The morning of the 11th brought bright blue skies, and a thick chunky patch of ice that flowed down the steps.

Holding on to the railing I climbed down the steps; and headed straight for the office. I told the man sitting behind the desk about the ice and how the gutter was bowed. He told me this was because of the snow in the gutter freezing and the melting water just flows over the ice. I tried to explain to him that this over flow of water occurs in the spring as well. He shook his head and said that this was the first he heard of this issue. I paused and took a deep breath. "Excuse me, but I brought in a letter explaining this issue last month." He did not give a definate timeframe to fix the gutter; but I do understand that fixing it soon is not on the agenda. There was no salt placed on my steps that day.

Here is a picture on my steps from about an hour ago. Notice not much has changed.

Later that same night (2/11/10), while I was looking for pictures to show to some friends, I found a few photos of the gutter/ice issue with the printing date of 8/15/07 stamped on the back.

Same problem different day. Come spring I will show off pictures of my "Urban Waterfall".

The Gutter (revisited)

2/8/10

We had a snow storm late Friday night. Saturday brought hard wind and some more snow. On Sunday, it was bright and the snow began to melt a bit. So once again the drip on my steps freezes to ice in the morning.





Monday Feb. 8th. I called the office requesting salt to be placed on my steps, so that our sole means of exiting our apartment would be safe. I was told that they don't salt at night and that there was no one on staff at that time to salt them. I explained that my husband would be leaving for work in half an hour. I was given the advise of telling my husband "to be careful" going down the stairs. At this point I took a deep breath and told the man "to have a nice day". I'm sure it didn't sound like I meant it.

At 8:19 am my husband walked down steps salted by the management.

Here are two more pictures for you to look at.




In this one above you can see the low spot in which the water has to travel.




Here you can see where the tree has caused an mini ice wall to further prevent the water from flowing properly.

The Letter about the Gutter

The following letter was hand delivered to my rental/maintenance office. I offered to show them the pictures I took with my cell phone. The offer was declined.

Dear XXXXXX XXXX Associates,

The gutter above the door way at ### is bowed and prevents the run off from flowing properly.

This malfunction has created a thick patch of ice on my front steps, causing us to proceed dangerously.

I called this morning requesting salt to be placed there only to find the lower half salted and the top to remain covered in ice.

I took pictures if you wish to see them.

I am concerned about the safety of family and guests as this is a constant issue.

I ask that the gutters be repaired.

Audrey

(this letter was photo copied and hand delivered; the steps look much better now)

Here are the pictures of my steps.