I have an ice dam on my roof causing water to come in the 2nd floor
ceiling of my house (I have 3 floors). I have read all that I can on
Ice Dams, and they all say to stop the heat loss in the attic. Well, I
don't have an attic. I have a gabled roof with cathedral ceilings that
match the roofline. Since I don't want to tear up the ceiling and
roof, I am thinking of installing those heat cables. Seems
easier/cheaper than having a membrane installed under the shingles.
Comments?

wrote:
I have an ice dam on my roof causing water to come in the 2nd floor
ceiling of my house (I have 3 floors). I have read all that I can on
Ice Dams, and they all say to stop the heat loss in the attic. Well, I
don't have an attic. I have a gabled roof with cathedral ceilings that
match the roofline. Since I don't want to tear up the ceiling and
roof, I am thinking of installing those heat cables. Seems
easier/cheaper than having a membrane installed under the shingles.
Comments?


Cables will be your best bet, for the short term at least.

Plan on how you will get power up there to a recept protected
from the weather. Cables should be fed from a GFCI breaker
(not a GFI recept on the roof!).

Jim