Ice Dam Removal and Roof Snow in Aurora, IL

Getting It Off Without Wrecking the Roof

Steam. Low-pressure steam melts the ice out without touching the shingles. It is slower and it costs more than the alternatives and it is the only method we will use on a roof somebody intends to keep.

What we will not do, and what you should not let anyone else do either: chip it with a hammer or an axe, use a pressure washer, or throw rock salt across the roof. Chipping breaks shingles, which are brittle at those temperatures anyway. Pressure washing drives water under the courses, which is the thing you are trying to stop. Rock salt corrodes flashing, gutters and fixings and kills whatever is planted below the drip line.

Calcium chloride in a stocking laid across the dam is the one DIY approach that does no harm. It melts a channel through so the pooled water can escape, which relieves the pressure even though it does not clear the dam. It is a reasonable holding measure if you cannot get anybody out for a few days.

Costs run roughly $400 to $1,400 depending on how much ice there is and how bad the access is. In a bad week across the Fox Valley, everyone with a steamer is booked, so calling early in a cold snap matters.

Roof Snow Clearing, and When It Is Worth Doing

Most Illinois roofs handle normal snow load without difficulty. The situations worth acting on are: a low-slope or flat roof where snow does not shed and drifts deepen, a deep snowpack followed by rain, which adds enormous weight fast, and any roof that has already got a dam forming, where taking the snow off the lower six feet removes the fuel.

A roof rake from the ground handles the lower section on a single-storey and is a genuinely useful thing to own here. Nobody should be on a roof in winter to clear snow, including us if there is a safer way to do it.

Ice and Water Shield: Aurora's Requirement

This is the layer that decides whether a dam causes damage or just looks bad, and Aurora's requirement is specific: ice and water shield must run from the fascia to 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, or 36 inches measured along the roof slope from the eave edge, whichever extends further.

Read that carefully, because the second condition is the one that gets shortened. On a house with a generous overhang, 24 inches inside the wall line is more than a single 36-inch course of membrane reaches. That means two courses. We keep getting called to roofs where somebody ran one course at the eave, and every one of those roofs dams into the wall cavity rather than onto the membrane.

The city does not inspect for it directly, incidentally. Their handout says plainly that there is no separate ice and water shield inspection, only a final roofing inspection, though the code requirement stands. So this is a line item where a contractor can save money invisibly. Check it is on your estimate, in inches.

The Real Fix Is Upstairs

Everything above is treatment. The cause is heat getting into the attic and melting snow from underneath, and it is fixed with air-sealing and ventilation rather than with anything on the roof surface.

Air-seal first: the ceiling penetrations, recessed lights, the attic hatch, plumbing stacks, wiring runs, top plates. Then ventilation, balanced to the numbers on the ventilation page, so that the attic stays close to outdoor temperature. A cold attic does not melt the snowpack, and snow that does not melt cannot refreeze at the eave.

Heat cables are the other option and we do fit them, on complicated roof geometries where a genuinely cold attic is not achievable. But understand what they are: a permanent electricity bill managing a symptom. Fix the attic first and fit cables only if the problem survives it.