# Ice Dams



## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

Insulation plus proper ventilation will help a lot. Another option is a roof rake and get rid of the snow. I just raked my roof. Check out the Avalanche roof rake.


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## stockrex (Apr 29, 2009)

This is what I did for my 70 year old ranch:

1. Stop hot air from condition space from going to the attic space:
I have a bunch of can lights. these can lights have a bunch of holes in them. I had a electrician change these to the newer can lights. 2 of them I used aluminum tape pieces to seal the holes. I used foam spray to seal holes around pipes and other light fixtures leaking air into the attic, these were pretty easy to find as there was a bunch of dirt around them.
The biggest leak I had was pocket doors. I need to seal the top of the pocket door framing in the attic but I just taped door opening for now.

2. insulation in attic: I have very low roof line and very light volume in the attic, the edges are very tight and now enough space to blow insulation. in future (after I lose my weight so my chunky you know what fits up there) I will move existing insulation and add rigid foam boards around the edges.

3. ventilation: I have a turbine vent and then a regular vent less than 5 feet from each other and per experts these are competing with each other and actually results in less than perfect air flow in attic as air flows from vent to turbine vent . this each when funds are available, I will roofer come and replace the turbine vent with a dormer vent. and add more soffit vents as needed.

4. ice melting heating cable - I have cables in the valleys and gutters and edges, these are wonderful. My front cable shorted out after a gutter repair job. I can't find someone to replace the cable, wish I was not so afraid of heights, I am going to use CaCl salt socks for ice in the front valley this season/

CapeCods: most of the cape cods around me have massive ice dams, the proper solution is to open it up, add proper insulation and ventilation, but that is $$$. I have seen where home owners have added a 3/4 inch rigid foam insulation from the inside and then covered that up with 1/2 inch drywall and refinished. This worked quite well for the $$ spent.


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