Ice dam/heat loss conundrum

My living room has north facing cathedral ceiling that experiences ice dams every year due to heat loss. I have tried everything I can think of to fix the issue but it still persists and I'm at a loss.

The main issue is that there is a walk-in closet above the garage/living room where the cathedral ceiling meets the roof line. I have included images for reference.

https://imgur.com/a/wJMcdfl

Last year I reinsulated the entire ceiling by tearing everything out inside to the roof deck, added EPS baffles with spray foamed edges, R21 fiberglass in the rafter bays, and then R15 of XPS over the rafters. I did furring strips across and then drywall. Using an thermal camera shows little to thermal difference over the entire ceiling. Still we had ice dams and water down the walls.

This year I went up into the small attic space above the closet and added Styrofoam baffles to the ridge vent, spray foamed the top plate with 2 inches of wide spray foam sealant, air sealed the ceiling of the closet, then added more fiberglass (about R40). Still I'm seeing heat loss where the ceiling meets the wall, both where the closet is and isn't.

Im not quite sure what else I can do to prevent the hot spots that cause the ice damming. I'm slowly working on air sealing the rim joists in the basement to reduce the chimney effect but not sure if that will help here.

Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Posted Apr 7, 2026, 11:34 AM UTC

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