Gutter Heat Cable Installation

There are few hard and fast rules in terms of installing self regulating heat cable in gutters.

Gutter heat cable installation. Some tips and tricks. The average cost to install 100 feet of heat cable on the roof only is about 300 400 labor only excludes materials. Disadvantages of installing heat cables. Heat cable is a similar product but it is designed for installation on the edge of your home s roof near the eaves.

There is no need to affix the cable to the gutter. Choose a preassembled cable available in lengths between 6 and 100 feet which plugs into a standard grounded outlet. They take electricity to operate. The term heat tape refers to another product an insulated electrical wire applied to water pipes to keep them from freezing and bursting.

Cable is available in both 120 and 240 voltages. Why gutter heat cable installation can save your roof. Heat cables for roofs and gutters have widely varying price points primarily depending on the length of the cable. Heat cables can protect your gutters from filling with ice breaking off and harming your roof.

In addition to cleaning out your gutters and installing gutter accessories to keep drainage clear roof cables also called heat cables offer added protection from a buildup of rooftop ice dams. Clogged gutters warp and sag and get damaged on the. They might be fine for a while but over time ice dams and gutters clogged with ice cause damage to your home. Heat cables are a much cheaper solution than fixing the source of the problem by sealing air leaks in the attic installing adequate insulation and creating proper ventilation.

Heat trace cable is safe for metal plastic or wooden downspouts and gutters and it will not overheat even if overlapped. To simplify comparisons calculate the cost of each cable per foot. The brothers that just do gutters do not install heat cable on the roof s edge but rather inside of the gutter system with a guard installed on top. This allows you to fairly compare prices of an 80 foot cable with a 90 foot cable.

Gutter heat cables might seem like overkill. When you add materials at the price of about 2 sq ft you are looking to spend about 200 for 100 feet of cable.