What are my insulation options for this attic?
Location: NE Ohio. So I have a fully walkup attic. I love that it's fully walk-up, functional, easy to get to, and I can walk around up there to store things. However, I get terrible ice damming some years, mostly when we get a solid snow, like 18 inches or more, and then it stays below freezing for an extended period (like this past winter). The ice damns do cause some ice on the siding, so it backs up behind the gutter presumably. I am intending to spend my summer remediating this little by little each pay period. The problem is clearly a lack of enough insulation, as all winter I monitored the attic. put bluetooth thermostats in there, even some old school deck thermostats, etc. And the temp in the winter is regularly 30 or more degrees warmer in the attic than outside. I tried putting fans sucking air in from the gable vents and pulling out the other side. It helped, but it still would be 10-15 degrees warmer up there, which is fine when it's 5 degrees out, but not so much when it's 25. There is old insulation under the flooring, but clearly its not enough and it's only a few inches deep, so just replacing it I fear still is not enough space for adequate insulation, but you tell me! That's why I am here! But my main question is, can I simply insulate the roof? I would really love to keep this a functional area, but am not willing to risk the ice damming eventually doing so much damage I have a major issue on my hands. Or do I really just need to close it off and blow it a ton of insulation, losing the attic's functionality as it exists today, but stopping future ice dams? Any advice you can give is appreciated!
Side notes, 1) the insulation you see in some pictures is for a cap I made for the stairs. I realized a lot of warm air was coming in from there (the attic door goes to a bedroom), so I fixed insulation to some wood and basically push it over to get up there, and replace it when I leave. that also helped, but not enough. 2) The bathroom vent was venting into the attic. I know the long-term solution to to vent it out the side of the house. but at the moment I am not skilled enough to do that, and would have to budget money aside for a while to save for it. In the meantime, is running the bathroom vent to the gable vent acceptable so the warm air has a place to go? Or is that a bad idea with consequences I have not thought of? and 3) For the summer, I do I have fan to suck out warm air, but it is not working. How can I tell if the motor, or thermostat is shot, vs it just not getting power?
Sorry for the long post and so many questions, but I am determined to fix this problem before the next OH winter hits and I don't want to waste my time with a bunch of half assed fixes that help, but don't solve the problem, like I did this past winter. I spent way to much time on this, and it ultimately did not do the trick lol.
Thanks in advance!