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Are these a good idea? Don’t tell me the best idea, insulate properly! Until then, are these safe to put on a roof? Any problems with them?
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Yeh, I've got them, they work and if you have an almost flat roof like mine you will have to have them.
I've tried everything else, Salt in pantyhose legs(they actually work but look like hell), rakes,etc. The roof is well insulated as I could make it, but there isn't enough room for the R50 that a roof should have in Minnesota. Nor is there room for a air path to ensure that the roof is properly vented.
My final solution is to tear it down......
*Frenchy: Well of course those panty hose full of salt look bad. You forgot to put the hot pants and spike heels on them!RJT: Yes, the cables work. You need to run them from above the eaves (above where the vertical wall is below) where the ice dams form down to the edge where the water can run off the roof.I consider them an energy suck and a bit of a fire hazard. The fire hazard can be reduced by NOT letting them cross anywhere (the junction gets hotter then the rest of the cable and a short can start a fire); inspecting each fall and after any snow-raking of the roof; and putting them on a switch for use during a snowfall event rather than leaving them on all the time.Thank you in advance for helping make for milder winters by heating the whole outdoors. -David
*They work well if you like to use expensive electricity to temporarily correct a problem caused by the loss of expensive heated air from your home (more often caused by air leaks in the walls and ceilings than by inadequate insulation or inadequate ventilation). Something seems wrong with this approach though.
*You can insulate all you want, but sometimes it still won't prevent ice dams. When you have a winter with lots of snow and cold as we've had in Mn. , on a sunny day the snow melts, percolates to the shingles, runs under the snow to the eave where it is exposed to the cold and freezes, building up an ice dam. You can either rake off the snow, or use one of the other solutions mentioned above.steve
*David, My wife gets so cranky if I have the girl friend up on the roof in her spike heels and hot pants, that I'm better off with the Ice dams. Besides I'm not sure where to find a girl in hot pants and spike heels that will sit on the roof in the middle of the winter. Any suggestions???
*Frenchy: Lots of women in hot pants and spike heels in the snow on 4th Avenue in Anchorage. Glad to be of help. -David
*Thanks for the input. But as for those spike heels, aren't those brutal on the shingles?
*But dat's how dey manage to stay up there,.
*Frenchy,I've heard you shouldn't put salt on shingles. I don't remember why, but I assume is harms them. Apparently these new snow melt products that use other chemicals are better.I am facing a similar problem, but from another cause. I had my drainpipes replaced this fall. They match the same size and location of the old ones, but now they work too well.On one corner of the house, an upper pipe empties into a lower eavestrough. There is so much water flow that it has backed up and frozen. No damage yet to the roof edge, but I can see it coming. I will move the pipe in the spring, but until then I'm trying to keep it clear. Anybody got some tips?
*If you had ice and water shield and good ventilation/insulation you wouldnt need those foolish stupid looking cables
*Jim,My roof was built by a guy just like you! A roofer who presumably knew what he was doing.Actually the roof is built just right, is well ventilated and covers an attic with my obsessive insulation.The problem is that the south side of the house is seeing a lot of sun during this mid-winter thaw. That well built roof has held the snow, but it is now thawing anyway. The pipes are jammed from ice and overflowing. Yes, there is ice and water sheild along the edges, but you and I know that is not perfect. It is just a little extra insurance. I'm hoping to find a way to clear the ice, before I have to call on that insurance.
*Salt isn't a problem for the shingles, it's a problem for the nails and the gutters,flashing etc. Pouring hot water over frozen gutters/downspouts works. Hook up a garden hose to the bottom of your hot water heater grab some thick gloves, aim it above the frozen spots and presto change'o melted Ice. next drop a heat cord down the drain pipe or lay it in the gutter. plug it in when it's frozen again. I HATE WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*My two cents: My three year old 10-12 pitch roof has ice/water shield, relatively large air chases and adequate or better insulation. It's been suggested that the dark green shingles warm in the winter sun even under 6 to 12 inches of snow. Dams are appearing over the soffits and especially in the valleys of the roof. Bogus helpful folks are murmuring that I should run heating cables. I think this is very unappealing. It's been pointed out that these of course never break in the summer! My druthers would have been to roof in metal. I was told that I'd have problems making the valleys leak proof. Guess I should talked to more than one "expert" about this. My shingle roof leaks anyway. OK, OK, I'm rambling. Proper insulation, good air circulation, good slope. Got em. Got dams and leaks too...
*The roof is 4 yrs old and has the 3 ft shield, everything is perfect, insulation, ventilation, etc. What's wrong? Snow, sun and physics.
*Thanks Frenchy,Just before reading this I took a couple buckets of hot water and threw them at the problem. That crackling sound was sooo sweet!I think the thaw is keeping the pipes flowing now.You know, winter is not so bad if you don't have to build anything. Of course, fixing stuff in the cold stinks.
*Actually, I hate to look out and see winter! I feel so stupid when I know that ducks with little tiny brains smaller then a pea are smart enough to leave in the winter. I've tried the winter sports, skiing snowmobles, Ice racing, etc. I still can't justify leaving the house.
*You all keep razzing me about my outside hot water hose bibs, but Rein just had yet another use for which they would have been really handy.Frenchy: I have a friend that refers to "Living like a whale." By which he means summer in Alaska and winter in Mexico. I experience the feeling stupid thing when crabbing. I'm going out in my kayak after something with about 3 neurons and I'm using a fishfinder (for bottom conditions) with thousands of pixels and millions of bytes and yet sometimes I come back empty-handed. -David
*Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against a nice warm beach. I just happen to also take some sick pleasure in looking out my window on a cold winter's morning at all the poor sods outside. Of course, the pleasure only lasts until I have to go to work. The irony is that I work in the computer industry. Weren't we supposed to be telecommuting from some village in Tahiti by now? Do those heating wires help stop ice cream from giving you a headache? Can I take the salt out of the stockings and use it on the rim of my glass?gee talk about dimentia...
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Are these a good idea? Don't tell me the best idea, insulate properly! Until then, are these safe to put on a roof? Any problems with them?