Three simple steps to getting your ice dam problems fixed:
One: We visit, take notes and photos and discuss your ice dam issues.
Two: We generate the most detailed estimate you will receive, outlining exactly what products we’re using and how the installation will occur.
Three: Our experienced techs install your ice dam prevention system in a day. Easy.
Heat Tape Installation Season:
We can install heat tape year-round. The Ice Dam Company is the only company in the Twin Cities that regularly installs heat cables directly after steaming ice dams off the roof. We have it down to a science. In fact, installing heat cables immediately after roof ice dam steaming is a great idea because our clients prevent same-season call backs for additional ice dam removal. Speaking of science, did you know that we are a direct-to-consumer manufacturer of heat cable? It’s true and we sell it to home owners and installers all over the country.
Heat tape installation project Edina Minnesota Ice Dam Company
Our products are UL Listed, come with an industry leading 10 year warranty and is built to last. This is not your typical big-box retailer heat cable. Frankly, that stuff is a joke and you should NEVER allow anyone to install it on your roof. Our self-regulating heat tape runs on 6 watts per foot and, as the name suggests, demands more energy when the outdoor temperatures are cooler and less when it is warmer. Our products are sold all over the United States because people have come to recognize our company as an industry leader in the development and installation of the finest ice dam heat cable products in the world. Or, simply go to Amazon. We sell a ton of it there as well under the brand name HeatTapePro.
Ice Dam Company Heat Cable – Self-Regulating, Commercial Grade
We are often asked about heat cable and heat tape. Is it a good idea? Does it prevent ice dams? Are there better solutions. As with most topics, the answers are highly dependent on a number of variables. We are going to keep this post simple.
No other company in the Midwest does a higher volume of ice dam prevention work than The Ice Dam Company. Our association with Kuhl’s Contracting, a premier exteriors and insulation company in Minneapolis results in many jobs that combine home performance enhancements with top-notch roofing services. Likewise, The Ice Dam Company also installs a lot of heat cable here in our home town.
If you live in the greater Minneapolis – St. Paul metro area, you’re in luck! The nations largest installer of premium ice dam and gutter ice prevention systems is your neighbor and we’re excited to hear from you!
Typical heat cable system installed, melt your worries away
If you’re tired of ice dams on your home we can help. Contact us today to get your free roof de-icing system estimate. Resolving your ice dams and gutter ice issues happens in three easy steps:
Step One:
We visit your home to discuss your ice dam issues and gather essential information
Step Two:
We go back to the mothership and create the finest, most detailed estimate you will receive. To see why this matters, read below.
Step Three:
Our experienced crew installs your new ice dam prevention system in a day
Why Choose The Ice Dam Company for your Heat Cable Installation
The Ice Dam Company is owned by Steve Kuhl, owner of Kuhl’s Contracting and Kuhl Design+Build. Our family of companies has been working on homes in the Twin Cities for over 35 years. We have the most triangulated understanding of ice dams, home performance and heat cable systems in the United States. As a result we are the largest installer of ice dam prevention systems around.
We compete against a lot of companies that call themselves experts but in fact are simply installing EasyHeat or comparable big-box store cables. That’s not how we roll (forgive the pun). We install the finest ice dam prevention system in North America made by Radiant Solutions Company.
How Much Does Roof and Gutter Heat Cable Cost?
Good question. The cost to install ice dam prevention heat tape depends mostly on two factors: The type of cable and the amount of cable. That said, we can provide you with some average costs for heat cable systems in Minneapolis.
$938 Install self-regulating heat cable roof de-icing system on one story home with small area of roof and a 10 foot gutter and downspout
$1,500 Cost to put in a 150 foot Heat Tape PRO heat cable on a 200 square foot flat rubber roof (project completed in Wayzata, MN)
$3,200 Price for gutter and roof heat tape installed around 4 scuppers and 4 corresponding commercial downspouts, three stories high
$4750 Install four sections of heat cable on home, including two roof valleys, adjacent gutter systems and one snow sensor and heat cable controller
Heat Tape versus Heat Cable: What’s the Difference?
We get asked a lot about the difference between electric heat tape and electric heat cable. The answer is that there is no difference. Both descriptions apply to apply to a category of ice dam prevention cable that is run, usually in a zig-zag pattern, along the affected eaves of a home/building (See install info here). The height, or distance that pattern runs up the roof is determined by the depth of the over hang on the home. The deeper the overhang, the higher the pattern needs to travel.
Not all heat tape is created equal. Think about the difference between a Pinto and an Audi. Sure, they are both cars, but they are pretty different in terms of quality. Honesty alert: Some heat tape is absolute crap. It’s the stuff sold at big box stores under the names Easy Heat and Frost King, to name a few. It costs about 1/3 that of the heavy duty material we install every day. Guess what the difference in labor cost is to install crappy heat cable versus quality heat cable? Zero. It costs zero dollars more to install long-lasting, efficient ice dam heat tape than it does the cheap stuff. We replace thousands of feet of lousy ice dam heat tape every year in the Twin Cities market. Time and time again we see the cheap cables have failed because they have either burned out or have deteriorated due to normal UV exposure.
The moral of the story is please, don’t buy cheap ice dam prevention cable. It won’t last long and it costs far more to operate than quality cable.
We Install Heat Cable on Any Roof or Gutter System
Given our vast experience as roofing contractors over the past 35 years, we are capable of installing cable on any home, business or industrial facility imaginable. We have seen (and done) it all. We work on asphalt and composite shingles, flat and low-slope roofs, membranes, TPO, roll roofing, torch down roofing, standing seam metal roofs, corrugated metal roofing, R-Panel, flat seam, hand-soldered metal, cedar shake and shingle, spanish tile, concrete tile, natural and synthetic slate, synthetic shakes, and on and on. If you want heat tape installed on it, we can and have done it before.
When we install Heat Tape on a clients home, often times we hard-wire the cable directly into their circuit. Sometimes, however, we choose to use our Heat Tape Manufacturer’s (Radiant Solutions) plug-in-ready HeatTape PRO.
One problem that come up often is that there isn’t an outlet near the location on the home where the Heat Tape will terminate. Even though Radiant Solutions Heat Tape has a 48″ cold lead –longer then most company’s 36″ cold lead– many times this is not enough to reach, and we end up working with a licensed electrician to have an outlet installed under the eave that we can plug the Heat Tape into. (The manufacturer doesn’t recommend extension cords, and can’t honor the warranty if one is used.)
Just recently Radiant Solutions released a new product that addresses this very problem. It’s called Heat Tape PRO XL. Heat Tape Pro XL features a 50-foot cold lead, that is designed to reach far away outlets. This solution can save the homeowner a significant amount over hiring an electrician. The result is happy customers.
Here is why it makes sense to hire professional roofers to remove your ice dams. It’s true. Most of our competitors are not roofers, nor do they understand residential construction.
Ice dam company professional roofers, professional results
Today one of our guys found a massive install error on a low-pitch rolled asphalt roof in Minneapolis. The client had no idea, and nor would any of our competitors who are not construction pros. The original roof installer failed to use adhesive between the roofing plies! (Photo 3, Point E) and no ice and water membrane whatsoever (Photo 3, Point F). That’s a major no-no. They also had all of the penetrations negatively lapped (sequenced into the asphalt improperly) (Photo 4, Point D). Good catch Paul!
The client with the roof leak in Minneapolis illustrated here called due to water pouring in through a light fixture under Point A, Photo 1. This by itself is not unusual. Roof leaks caused by ice dams often manifest many feet away from the source; sometimes a full story or two below the source. My initial theory was that water was traveling down the exterior wall of the shed dormer shown in Photo A. As it turns out, there was something more pernicious happening. The water was being pushed under an improperly flashed plumbing stack (Photo 2, Point B). While exploring the area our crews also noted the lack of lap sealant between the roofing plies (Photo 2, Point B and Photo 3, Point E).
This homeowner had used one of our largest competitors in town in 2014 to remove an ice dam (see highest ranking Google result). Guess what? They said nothing about the roofing defect. No big surprise because frankly, how would they know? They aren’t construction professionals, just ice dam removal guys who squirt ice off roofs with high-temperature pressure washers (not steamers!) (Click here to see the difference). We have seen this exact scenario play out countless times and to be honest, it’s frustrating to watch.
Ice dam company finds roof leaks
The Ice Dam Company is in fact the only company in the country with the in-house chops to diagnose and address problems with insulation, ventilation, roofing, sheet metal and other exterior envelope components. We also install miles of self-regulating heat cable each year on homes where the aforementioned architectural solutions are not appropriate or feasible. Most ice dam removal guys just use their pressure washers to squirt ice off the roof and that’s the end of it. For us, ice dam removal projects are often just the beginning of a longterm relationship with our clients. We end up remodeling their kitchen or adding onto their house through our sister company Kuhl Design + Build, a nationally recognized, award winning remodeling firm. The Ice Dam Company is a division of Kuhl’s Contracting, the third largest residential construction and remodeling company in Minnesota. There is a huge amount of cross-pollenization between the organizations. Each benefits from the resources and talents of the other. It’s fun to witness.
Ice dam company fixes roof leaks caused by ice dams and construction defects
HeatTapePro is a premium brand of commercial-grade, self-regulating heat cable. We are strategic partners with the Radiant Solutions Company, the direct manufacture of HeatTapePro and all related installation accessories.
Ice dam roof deicing cable installation information
HeatTapePro self-regulating heat cable
HeatTapePro self-regulating heat cables are designed to be used for a variety of roof de-icing, gutter de-icing and pipe freeze applications. Self-regulating heat cable automatically calls for more energy when ambient outdoor temperatures are lower and conversely, less energy when outdoor temperatures are higher. HeatTapePro is pre-terminated in our factory for your safety and convenience. No field modifications will be necessary to the cable to use it for the described purposes.
It’s official. The 2016 ice dam season has begun. We had a number of crews out today removing ice dams from St. Louis Park, Minneapolis, Edina, Minnetonka and St. Paul. We have more ice dam steamers than anyone in the country and yet it always feels like a bit of a scramble the first day. Men, supplies and equipment all being organized and deployed from our headquarters in Hopkins. Our warehouse looked like a war zone today. Hoses, anti-freeze and kerosene containers, steamers, shovels, all scattered around as we assembled the trucks for duty. As hectic as operations are the first day of each season, our clients see none of it. I liken the whole thing to a duck moving across a pond. From above the duck glides seemingly effortlessly but under the water his legs are moving like crazy. After this many years in business, I know this is how most businesses happen.
Before and after of ice dam removal project in Minneapolis
Here’s something cool from today. Our guys are all professional roofers which means they understand exterior envelopes and construction assemblies. Today one of our guys found a massive install error on a low-pitch rolled asphalt roof in Minneapolis. The client had no idea. The original roof installer failed to use adhesive between the roofing plies! That’s a major no-no. They also had all of the penetrations negatively lapped (sequenced into the asphalt improperly). Good catch Paul!
The Ice Dam Company is in fact the only company in the country with the in-house chops to diagnose and address problems with insulation, ventilation, roofing, sheet metal and other exterior envelope components. We also install miles of self-regulating heat cable each year on homes where architectural solutions are not appropriate or feasible. Most ice dam removal guys just use their pressure washers to squirt ice off the roof and that’s the end of it. For us, ice dam removal projects are often just the beginning of a longterm relationship with our clients. The Ice Dam Company is a division of Kuhl’s Contracting, the third largest residential construction and remodeling company in Minnesota. There is a huge amount of cross-pollenization between the organizations. Each benefits from the resources and talents of the other. It’s fun to witness.
Ice dam removal project before and after photos from Minneapolis project 12-21-16
In my travels around Minneapolis today looking at ice dam prevention jobs, I noticed a number of homes that already exhibit signs of ice dams. To be more specific, I noticed water and ice coming down the siding and in through the eaves on a number of homes such as the one shown here. This represents a clear signal that water is backing up behind an accumulation of ice on the roof and going where it’s not supposed to go. Want more signs of ice dam issues, click here. With another snowstorm approaching on Christmas, I’m predicting that this might be another troublesome year for Minneapolis homeowners relative to ice dams.
Ice dam removal Minneapolis
What can you do? Unfortunately, once ice dams form and begin to cause problems, the only answer is to have them professionally removed. We use true steamers, machines that superheat water to steam. How do you tell the difference between a high temperature pressure washer used by competitors and a steamer? It’s simple. Does the gun have a trigger or not? If it has a trigger, it is simply NOT a steamer. IDSAFE, a unique organization whose entire purpose is to educate property owners on ice dam steaming, can be found here. The Ice Dam Company is a proud member of IDSAFE. All of our machines have been verified to meet the standards of true ice dam steamers, unlike two of the largest ice dam removal companies in the Twin Cities. (You know who you are!).
Of course the better answer to ice dam removal in Minneapolis is ice dam prevention. We engage in more ice dam prevention work than anybody in the United States, employing both architectural solutions and non-architectural solutions which includes heat tape and heat cable, insulation, roofing, remodeling and general home performance inspections.
Our sister company, Kuhl’s Contracting, engages in the hundreds of attic insulation retrofits and reroofing projects every year in Minneapolis and surrounding communities to address the underlying causes of ice dams. Kuhl’s Contracting also installs heat cable and heat tape on commercial properties and residential properties all over Minnesota. We are proud to sell HeatTapePro, made by Radiant Solutions Company, a premium self-regulating commercial grade heat cable available on a number of online retailers including Amazon. HeatTapePro can also be purchased at The Heat Cable Store, an online direct-to-consumer website that sells a number of heat cable and heat tape products by different manufacturers. Of course, you may also buy HeatTapePro here, at The Ice Dam Company Store.
Click hereto schedule an appointment with our ice dam removal or ice dam prevention teams.
Roof deicing cable for ice dam prevention by the Ice Dam Company
Over the years we have heard people call heat cable many things.
Heat Coils for ice dam prevention:
Heat coils most likely get their name from the fact that the material itself, that is the heat cable, comes in coils and when installed by a hack is sometimes left in coils on the roof. Heat coils for ice dam prevention are of course the same thing as heat cables.
Roof deicing cables for ice dam prevention:
Roof deicing cables get their name from their primary purpose, to deice roofs. The name is a bit of a misnomer, however, because technically, roof deicing cables do not deice the entire roof, or even the majority of it. Ice dam deicing cables only melt channels through a small percentage of the ice dam to enable the passage of water through the ice dam so water is not able to back up behind the ice dam, into the roof material and into the home. Roof deicing cable is commonly used in the control of ice dams. Notice that there is a big distinction between preventing ice dams and controlling ice dams. Roof deicing wire and roof deicing cable is not meant to prevent ice dams so much as it is meant to control the affects of ice dams on roofs.
Gutter heat cables, Gutter heat tape and Gutter deicing cable:
Gutter heat tape also known as gutter heat wire, is used in the same fashion as heat cable, heat tape and roof deicing cable. It’s primary purpose is to melt ice, or more specifically, to prevent the original formation of ice in the gutter. As discussed in the here general section, gutters in fact have nothing to do with either the creation or severity of ice dams. This isn’t to say that using gutter heat tape or gutter heat wire is a bad idea. Having hundreds of pounds of ice form in your gutter system causes problems of its’ own, most notably that the gutters can be ripped off the house by the weight of the ice itself. Gutter heating coils is yet another variation of this category of names.
Gutter ice melting cable for ice dam prevention by The Ice Dam Company
Roof Heat Wire and Roof Heat Coils
As with other names, roof heat wire gets its’ name from the perception of its’ intended function. It’s just another way of saying heat cable or heat tape. Roof heat wire is wire on the roof that carries heat with the purpose of controlling ice dams or the damage created by ice formations on a roof.
$.78 to $1.22 Per Heat Cable Clip (Traditional, mechanically fastened clip used for standard asphalt roofs)
$25.00 to $35.00 Per Heat Cable Clip (Slotted clip used for slate, tile and cedar roofs)
$.78 to $1.22 Per Heat Cable Clip (Traditional, mechanically fastened clip)
We sell a wide variety of clips, brackets and doohickies for the installation of ice dam heat cable. There are three basic varieties of clips one can buy through the Ice Dam Company.
Roof clips for ice dam heat cables
Mechanically Fastened Heat Cable Clips:
This type of clip is either nailed or screwed onto the roof. It is by far the most common clip sold on The Ice Dam Company website and is used primarily to secure heat cables and roof deicing wire to asphalt roofs. Our installers use these clips to install ice dam heat cable by either nailing or screwing the clips directly to the roof surface, usually in conjunction with a blob of special polyurethane caulk. Once installed, these clips are used to hold the ice dam cable in place permanently without creating wear points that might eventually abrade through the cable and cause issues with functionality. The average cost of these heat cable and roof deicing wire clips for ice dam control is $.78 to $1.22 Per Heat Cable Clip, depending on style, color and order quantity.
Slotted Clips and Brackets for Heat Cable:
As the name suggests, this family of clips is slotted in order to allow installers to use existing fasteners on a roof system to hold the clip in place. The most common application is the slate roof clip or cedar roof clip. Such clips are slipped up, under the existing roofing material and hooked around the nails being used to hold the clip in place. Using slotted heat cable clips is the suggested method of installing heat cable and roof deicing cables on slate roofs and sometimes on cedar roofs because of the non-invasive, non-destructive nature of the install. Slotted roof heat cable and roof deicing clips are far more expensive for ice dam prevention installations than traditional heat cable clips. The average cost of these heat cable and roof deicing wire clips for ice dam control is $25.00 to $35.00 Per Heat Cable Clip, depending on style, color and order quantity. The vast majority of the slotted clips we sell are made of copper and are for use on slate roofs.
Glue-on clips for ice dam heat cable and roof deicing cable:
The third and final style of clips we sell are Glue-on clips. These clips are used on metal and single ply roofing systems, such are EPDM (rubber) and TPO membranes. Installing heat cable and roof deicing wire on metal roofs is not nearly as common as on other systems such as asphalt roofs and slate roofs. Metal roofs are simply less prone to ice dams, or more specifically, to damage caused by ice dams. Single ply systems, or roof membranes like TPO or rubber roofs, are even less likely to suffer from the ill consequences of ice dams. This explains why we sell less of this style of roof clip than any other. The average cost of these heat cable and roof deicing wire clips for ice dam control is $.92 to $4.55 Per Heat Cable Clip, depending on style, color and order quantity.
Removing Ice Dams in Minnesota: We Serve Many Areas in the Minneapolis Metro
The Ice Dam company based out of Hopkins, Minnesota, about 5 miles west of Minneapolis. We've done gutter ice removal, roof ice removal and ice dam removal all over the Twin Cities, on new houses and old ones.
Some of the more frequent places we've done ice dam services are:
