Eaves are icing

[tonkota]

We have a problem every year with our eaves icing up and huge ice dams in the gutters.

I'm looking at this:
WinterGard Wet roof heat tape is designed for up to 150' heat tape using 120V power.

Are there any alternatives? I thought I saw something similar at Lowes or Home Depot, but I can't find it now.

 

[KLF]

Heat tapes are a band-aide solution to a poorly ventilated roof. 6W per foot is a lot of electricity, you're electric bill is gonna take a hit.

Do you have soffit vents? Gable vents or ridge vents?

 

[tonkota]

We have soffit, gable and ridge vents. I know our house is poorly insulated also, the snow melts and then refreezes in the gutters. I found a 5w/foot cable at Ace Hardware. It would take about 100' of cable so 500W or about 365 kw/h at $0.068 / kwh is about $30 a month.

You can see the gable vents at the peak, the ridge vents are on the other side.

I wish I could vent it better if that is the problem. I don't know how to though. Our house is a 1.5 story:

 

['69 Yota]

I know it's a little late, but can you take the gutters off. That's a big part of the problem.

 

[Johnnymiz]

the problems are... 1.older cape cod style house with living area in what would be the attic in a colonial or ranch style. 2. gable vents at the top, but no vents at the bottom. 3. given the age of the house, most definitely poorly insulated, but he'd have to rip the walls/ceiling out to insulate better. 3. it has a basement, so just removing the gutters would probably result in water in his basement. you can change your gutters to ones that hang BELOW your eves instead of being nailed to the facia boards. this way, even if they ice up, the ice wont back up into your roofing, but it will still divert water during the thaw and rain in warmer weather.

 

['69 Yota]

I'm sure it doesn't help that he's had over 70 inches of snow in the last two or three weeks and 20 below two weeks ago and almost fifty degrees yesterday and today. It's a mess.

 

[tonkota]

Yeah, the ice is almost gone now. I'm going to install some heat cable before it snows again. Ace Hardware sells some.

I really think that the right way to do this would be to dig down beside the house, put in proper drainage, remove the gutters and let it be. But I hate digging, so that isn't going to happen.

 

[titanpat57]

I know it's a bit late...but I would get a roof rake and scrap(or pull) the first 3-4 feet of snow down from the roof. Given the lay of the land around the house and the cost of an aluminum roof rake, I think that would help alot.

When the soffits and eaves are so close to walls (the source of heat hence your source of melting) in that type of construction...it always happens.

Cables would be a last resort...IMHO I think they are dangerous. They can cause a fire. If laid in the gutter and down the downspouts it is less of a hazard, just remember to put them on a timer or switch with an idiot light so you don't forget. Another solution would be to run ice guard and install metal roofing for the first 4'...that's pretty common in areas that recieve alot of snow. I'm also in favor of removing the gutters as long as water hasn't been an issue in the basement in the past.