On 06 Jan 2005 04:09:23 GMT, (Bob K 207) wrote:

I think I understand the mechanics of ice dams. Up until recentely they were
just an academic topic for me. I now own a home that is suglect to occasional
ice dams. Two occurances in the last 5 winters.

The roof is metal (standing seam?), dams (so far) have only occured in two
places on the ~south facing roof slopes.

Only being the south side implies you have good insulation, it might
be the sun over warming the upper parts of the roof sending down
melted snow.



Question............is this a design problem, construction problem or so they
just happen?

Not an expert here, but I wonder why it's blocking up at the bottom,
do you have a blocked up(dirty) gutter?


Is the solution something like Raychem heating cable?


I think that is something you should think about over the summer since
gettin up on a wet/icy building could be unsafe.

Try this. Get some of the safest ice melt out there( I think it's
magnesium cloride), fill a sock with it, and tie it to a rope. Toss
it up to the roof. pull it down so it's right above the ice dam. The
ice will melt around the sock giving a path for the water and other
melting ice a path to the gutter. Might even unblock your potentially
frozen gutters.

Bob


Now that's what I would do...

Tom @ www.ChopURL.com