Ice-Dam Emergencies Overwhelm Massachusetts Contractors

Massachusetts is contending with a surge in ice-dam problems reported by homeowners.

After a late January winter storm delivered more than 2 feet of snow in places in New England, homeowners across the region barely had time to clean up the snow before they found themselves under a long stretch of deeply cold weather that mixed with bright sunshine. The cycle of thawing during the day and freezing at night has created conditions for ice dams to form on homes.

Now, homeowners are frantically scrambling to remove ice dams, which means contractors are inundated with service calls.

“In the first week, I think we had over 500 missed calls that we had to get back to,” said Benjamin Connell, president of Wrentham-based Connell Roofing, in a statement shared with the Boston Globe. “My team was working later than normal until like 10 o'clock at night and on the weekends just to get back to people.”

Ice dams form when interior heat or sun melts snow that refreezes at the roof edge, causing water to back up under shingles and into homes if not addressed promptly.

The demand for ice dam remediation has been so substantial that ice dam removal crews are being flown in or trucked in to Boston and surrounding areas to help with the problem.

Mike Hilborn, president of the Minnesota-based RTD Ice Dam Removal, said his crews are using steamers to melt the dams safely. Massachusetts hasn't had this many ice-dam problems since the winter of 2015, when the Boston area was buried under more than 7 feet of snow in just three weeks.

Professional removal costs approximately $1,000 for typical snow removal and $1,000 per hour (with a two-hour minimum) for ice dam removal.

Remediation guidance favors melting ice dams over brute-force methods or open flames. Steamers, like those used by RTD Ice Dam Removal, are considered the safest option to minimize further roof damage or fire risk.