Ice Dam Removal: What Helps, What to Avoid, and What Comes Next

Removing an ice dam gets rid of the ice. It does not get rid of the reason the ice formed. Ice dams build up because heat from the house leaks into the attic and melts snow on the roof, and that meltwater refreezes at the cold edge. The University of Massachusetts Amherst building program puts it plainly: ice dams are created by the heat lost from the house.

That makes removal a short-term fix, useful when water is already getting in or the ice is heavy enough to worry about. It is not a cure. If you want to stop the dam from coming back, read our guide on ice dam causes and prevention, which covers insulation, air sealing, ventilation, and the ice barrier code. This page sticks to the removal side so the two guides do not repeat each other.

The short version of what follows: clear snow from the ground if you can, leave the ice itself alone unless a trained crew is doing it, and treat water coming indoors as the signal to call someone.

Several common shortcuts can hurt you or the roof. Each of these is warned against by the sources below.

• Do not chip or hack at the ice. InterNACHI lists removing a dam with shovels, hammers, and ice picks as a method to avoid, noting that the roof can be easily damaged, as can the homeowner when they slip off the icy roof. UMass Amherst describes the pattern of people attacking roof ice with hammers, shovels, and ice picks and concludes that more damage is done to life, limb, and roof than the ice ever caused.
• Do not put rock salt on the roof. Travelers, the insurer, says to avoid rock salt or sodium chloride, which can damage your roof.
• Do not climb a ladder or get on the roof. Maine's emergency agency says to say no to climbing on ladders because ice and snow build up on the rungs and on your boot soles. The Alaska Department of Labor notes that falls cause the most deaths and injuries during rooftop snow removal.
• Do not use heat on the roof. Maine also says no to hair dryers and heat guns, because water and electricity do not mix, and no to open flame, which can damage roofs and gutters and even set a house on fire.
• Do not count on heat cables as a fix. InterNACHI says they rarely work, take effort to install, use electricity, and can make shingles brittle.

Travelers also describes filling a nylon stocking with calcium chloride ice melt and laying it across the dam to melt a channel. That step means getting a stocking onto the roof edge, which brings back the ladder problem. We do not recommend doing it yourself.

Water on a ceiling or down a wall is the point where waiting stops being a good plan. If water is reaching a light fixture, an outlet or the area around your electrical panel, deal with that first: our roof leak repair guide explains when to turn power off at the main breaker and when to stay away and call an electrician. Then a few things help while you arrange professional help:

• Protect what is below the stain. Move furniture and belongings, and put containers under drips where it is safe to do so.
• Take dated photos and video of the ice, the ceiling, and any stained walls, inside and out, from the ground. You will want them for an insurance claim, and our guide to the storm damage insurance claims process explains what to expect.
• Do not wait for the ice to melt on its own. The University of Minnesota Extension says that in an emergency where water is flowing into the house structure, making channels through the ice dam allows the water behind the dam to drain off the roof. That is a job for a crew with the right equipment, not a homeowner with a hose and a ladder.
• Do not repair interior damage yet. The same extension page advises waiting until ceilings and walls are dry before repairing them.

Damage from an ice dam does not always stay in sight. InterNACHI notes that leaks can saturate wall cavities and cause trouble long after the ice dam has melted, and that chronically wet insulation will not decompress even when it dries. Once the ice is gone, a roof inspection can show whether water got under the shingles, and a roof repair can fix what it damaged.