Afternoon-

The last two years I've had a severe icedam over the corner of one
room that faces the bathroom. The bathroom's roof (upper) drops about
4 foot to the lower roof; the valley is interrupted when they diverge.

2 years ago I gutted the lower room, installed a ridgevent, added new
insulation, new soffits- still had a bad icedam'd winter.

Last year (which was a bad year mind you) I had a similiar problem.
This year I've added new soffits to the bathroom area to vent the heat
above the shower.

Here's what I'd like to do as a temporary fix until I can find a
roofer that is willing to close off the valley by extending the upper
roof down to the lower one:

1) Ice/water shield above existing shingles to protect the bathroom
wall (normall exposed). Cut at a 30 degree angle from valley down to
lower roof. Tar leading edge tight.

2) Place heating / de-icing cable in tight formation around that bad
edge. Double up near the wall to prevent any from leaking in.

3) Deicing cable on the Upper Roof above the area that is usually
badly hit.

Here's where it gets odd tho...

4) Add Aluminum flashing from the valley out (mind you over shingles)
and OVER the heating cable. They'll be about 4 foot long strips. Tar
the seams. Tack each one in place with a pair of nails about 1 foot
above the leading edge of the cable. Ice/water shield top of aluminum
under the row of shingles.

I'll try and post a photo of the corner at

http://www.gotSheep.com/~hirsch/Photos/area.jpg

The last roofer I had subcontracted to a guy with no insurance- he did
a horrible job... and ended up ripping both me and my neighbor off (at
last I got a ridge vent for 1500$....) Everyone else I've talked with
refuses to build out the valley, claiming this product or that product
or prodigious amounts of ice/water shield will fix the area.
Unfortunately, roof backpitches about 1 degree (into the bathroom
area) because of house settling... can't get them to listen.

Suggestions very much welcome.

Jason Hirsch