There are many ways in which your roof can get damaged, and that’s because that part of your house is constantly hit by snow, hail, rain and of course sunlight, and there’s no way to avoid it. They’ll all eventually wear down your roof, even something as minor as leaves and tree limbs will collect in your gutter through the year and cause some trouble.

But you still can avoid disastrous result by giving maintenance to every little part of your roof every once in a while. Letting those chores for later will mean facing buildups or unseen ice dams that occur during the winter when it snows, and the obstruction of your gutters with ice can cause great damages to your roof since ir will prevent proper drainage from happening.

Ice Dams

Generally, the snow that collects in the roof does not cause any trouble if the roof is correctly sealed; snow should just melt and drain into the gutters, taking moisture away from the roof and foundations.

But some areas in the country get a harsher winter seasons, where it snows and temperatures fluctuate through the day, freezing the ice that was melt before during the day, and obstructing metal gutters, eaves and downspouts, blocking the passageways where the moisture should flow.

Often those icy obstructions take longer time to melt than regular snow because they frequently lay in areas that are hidden from the sunlight, which never get heat loss from the house. The inability of the melt snow to run through the gutters creates small dams, seepage and decay in your roof and the edges of it.

Use roof heating cables to avoid icy blockages on your roof

There are many possible projects that might stop snow buildups to damage your roof, like barriers, appropriate ventilation, proper insulation and radiant, but an infallible way to approaches this problem is to use roof heating cables.

Roof heating cables resemble an extension cord, they are wrapped in heavily insulated rubber which makes them moisture-proof and grounded. They are placed around the roof edges and within the gutters. Their main function is to radiate heat that helps melting the ice before it collects.

It can even melt heavy snow buildups that could possibly cave-in, removes icicles from the eaves, and they can also be used on pipes, by wrapping them around with the heating cable to prevent freezing.

Roof heating cables will save you a lot of money in reparations and maintenance and they are inexpensive, costing around $50 to $100, depending on what kind of model you chose. There are some models that use adapters to regulate the outside temperature automatically whenever the air drops below freezing.

Roof heating cables installation

Although there are some ready-to-use kits available, you should let the installation in professional hands since a roofer can find the best option for your roof, depending on the materials it’s made of and the weight it can support. Roof heating cables work just by plugging it into a normal socket, however some precautions should be taken since they’ll be surrounded by water.