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• #Metal roof heat cable how to

#Metal roof heat cable how to

How to Determine What You Need for a Roof and Gutter Heat Cable System No, installing cable in the gutters alone will not prevent damage to your home if ice dams visit. Yes, it is smart to put heat tape in gutters to help water move off your roof and away from your foundation. Moreover, homeowners often make the mistake of thinking that installing heat cable in the gutters alone will help. I know, because I have seen this attempted a number of times by desperate homeowners. Put simply, if your home has bad ice dams and you have gutters, removing those gutters will have zero impact on the severity of those ice dams. Notice in the above illustration that the origin of the leaks caused by the typical ice dam does not change, with or without gutters. Gutters have NOTHING to do with the formation or severity of ice dams. Speaking of gutters, I need to clear something up immediately. Running cable in the typical “zig-zag” pattern along the eaves of areas prone to ice dam formation will eliminate leaks from ice dams by melting paths through the snow and ice, giving water the opportunity to leave the roof. For the most part, the majority of the heat cable jobs we install involve treating the eaves and gutters. They are also found in other, sneakier places such as above skylights and low slope shed dormers.

Ice dams are most often located on the lowest edge of the roof, commonly called the ‘eave’. Today I will describe how to best employ heat cables on your home to prevent damage from ice dams.

In part two, Not all heat cable is created equal, I geeked out on the topic of heat cable types in depth. In part one, Should you install heat cables to prevent ice dams?, I discussed the most common solutions employed to prevent ice dams. Welcome to the final entry in my three-part series on ice dam prevention and heat cables. This is a guest blog post by Steve Kuhl of Radiant Solutions Company.