a) if you don't know about roof rakes, they're roughly 25' long aluminum rakes designed for removing snow from the roof where it could form an ice dam. My apologies if you do know about them.
b) electric heating cable *can* be useful, once the dam is gone, to prevent reoccurence, by running it THROUGH the gutter AND downspout. You can plug it in only when needed.
c) IFF you wind up needing to do roof work (not clear), then you should consider snow&ice shield, a rubber matt that goes under the shingles and prevents water from getting IN in the event of an ice dam. It's not infallible, though -- it's failed me in one part of my roof, presumably because it wasn't quite correctly installed.
d) lots of roofs don't have adequate venting, and the recommended amount of venting has gone up a lot in the last 12 years or so.
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Date: 2007-12-21 06:50 am (UTC)a) if you don't know about roof rakes, they're roughly 25' long aluminum rakes designed for removing snow from the roof where it could form an ice dam. My apologies if you do know about them.
b) electric heating cable *can* be useful, once the dam is gone, to prevent reoccurence, by running it THROUGH the gutter AND downspout. You can plug it in only when needed.
c) IFF you wind up needing to do roof work (not clear), then you should consider snow&ice shield, a rubber matt that goes under the shingles and prevents water from getting IN in the event of an ice dam. It's not infallible, though -- it's failed me in one part of my roof, presumably because it wasn't quite correctly installed.
d) lots of roofs don't have adequate venting, and the recommended amount of venting has gone up a lot in the last 12 years or so.