GOT AN ICE DAM? CALL US IMMEDIATELY!

DON’T WAIT! Ice Dams are a very serious problem. They can cause water to back up your roof and into your exterior walls. Once this happens the insulation in your walls also gets wet and this will reduce the insulating factor as well as cause mold growth if left unrepaired.

WHAT CAUSES ICE DAMS?

An ice dam is a ridge of ice that forms at the edge of a roof and prevents melting snow from draining off of the roof. The water that backs up behind the dam can leak into a home and cause damage to walls, ceilings, insulation and other parts of the house.

HOW ICE DAMS FORM:

Snow on your roof melts as heat works its way through your ceilings, access hatches, doors, ceiling lights and other utilities penetrations into your attic space, heating up the roof deck surface and shingles. The heat that ends up in your attic space builds up due to inadequate venting and insulation.

As the snow on the roof slowly melts, the water runs down the warmer roof surface until it reaches the roof edge/overhang (eaves) where it then freezes on the colder surface of the unheated roof edge. This freezing causes a small ridge of ice which is continuously fed by more melted snow further up the roof. Then the water begins to build up behind the ice dam and this causes obvious problems.

Eventually, the water builds up and finds its way under the shingles and onto the roof decking and into your living space and between the walls.

HOW IS AN ICE DAM AND SNOW REMOVED?

Removing an Ice dam is dangerous work and we do not recommend homeowners removing snow & ice from roofs. Every year there are reports of homeowners falling off roofs, getting seriously hurt and even killed. We never send anyone out to a snow & ice removal job by themselves, always 2 working together. Our team of experts will assess the situation and then make recommendations on what to do. If there is water coming into the home, our first task is to stop the intrusion. This usually means creating an outlet for the water that is backing up. Once we have slowed the water intrusion, we then begin by removing snow as much as feasible. We never remove it completely down to the shingles. Removing snow & ice is difficult to do and we do not want to cause any damage to your shingles. Once the snow is reduced, we then will work on removing as much ice using steam to melt and loosen it.

HOW CAN I KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN?

Since ice dams form from heat building up in the attic, we look at how the heat is getting into the attic and why it is not getting out. Our representative will make a thorough investigation including the use of a thermal imager. A report will be generated for you explaining where the problems exist and how to alleviate them, usually by means of additional venting and insulation. The cost to produce this report and fix the problem is made up by not having to do any more water damage repairs and also in your energy cost savings by adding more insulation.

CAN THIS BE CONSIDERED AN INSURANCE ISSUE?

By all means YES! Usually, the ice dam itself is not a coverable issue (we have seen a few Insurance providers cover the ice dam removal). But once water gets into your walls and living areas and causes water damage, Insurance will cover the costs of the repairs. The cost can be quite significant when all costs are taken into account to make repairs back to original condition before the damage occurred.

Call (612) 216-1186 right away (and take pictures of the ice dam and the water damage caused by it) so that we can help you with the Storm damage claim process and also help you file an insurance claim. We are proud to serve Minneapolis, St Paul, St Cloud, Shakopee, Edina, Inver Grove Heights, Bloomington, Blaine, Burnsville, Apple Valley, Minnetonka, Apple Valley, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Plymouth, Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Elk River, Forest Lake, and Woodbury, MN.   We are a home improvement company you can rely on throughout every phase of your project.