Professional ice dam removal serving Des Moines and surrounding areas.
Every metro January produces the same phone calls: brown stain spreading on the bedroom ceiling, and a ridge of ice along the gutter the owner walked past for two weeks. Ice dam removal in Des Moines, Iowa does three jobs at once — melts the dam without damaging the roof, dries what it already leaked, and fixes the heat loss that will build the next dam unless somebody deals with it.
| Step | What happens | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Steam removal | Dam melted off without shingle damage | $400 – $1,500 |
| Interior drying | Ceiling cavity and insulation dried | $1,200 – $4,000 |
| Ceiling repair | Stains cut out, drywall and texture matched | $800 – $3,500 |
| Air-sealing + insulation | The heat loss that built the dam, fixed | $1,500 – $4,000 |
| Ventilation check | Soffit-to-ridge flow confirmed | Included |
The dam is the symptom; the heat loss is the disease. Steam removal ends this winter’s leak, and the ceiling repair ends this year’s stain — but the attic that leaked heat in December will melt snow again next January. The air-sealing and insulation upgrade is the only line item on the quote that stops the cycle, and it’s the one most often skipped. The homes that call every February for three winters running are the ones that skipped it twice.
Des Moines’ ice dam problem maps to its housing stock: the century homes of Woodland Heights and Sherman Hill with their original attics, the mid-century ranches with shallow slopes and big eaves, and the newer suburbs where cathedral ceilings put warm deck right against the snow. Big-footprint roofs give dams more runway. And the metro’s freeze-thaw swings — the warm afternoon that starts the melt followed by the night that refreezes it — build dams faster than steady-cold towns ever see. The restoration that knows the metro brings steam, not tools.
Serving Des Moines, Polk County, and the metro — steam removal, interior drying, ceiling repair, and the prevention upgrade.
Stain spreading on the ceiling and ice on the eave? Call — steam this week, dried before it molds, sealed so it doesn’t come back.
Fast, professional water damage restoration for homes and businesses — extraction, drying, and full repair.
Complete flood cleanup and restoration after rising water, storms, and overflow.
24/7 water extraction with truck-mounted pumps to remove standing water fast and limit damage.
Full structural repair and reconstruction after water damage — drywall, floors, and framing.
Detailed moisture inspection and assessment with thermal imaging to find hidden water damage.
Cut out, replace, and repaint water-damaged drywall so walls look new again.
The metro's housing stock does it to itself: heat escapes the living space into an attic that was never air-sealed, warms the roof deck from underneath, and the snow melts at the ridge. It refreezes at the cold eave, and the dam that grows there holds the next melt on the roof. Older neighborhoods with original insulation and the big-footprint roofs common in the suburbs both produce them — it's a building-science failure, not a weather accident.
No. Chipping at a dam cracks shingles, opens the exact edge the dam was sealing, and puts a person on an iced ladder in January — the worst version of all three. Steam removal melts the dam without touching the roofing, done from the ground or with proper roof access. The interior ceiling already wet needs drying anyway; make one call cover both.
The sudden water damage the dam caused — ceiling, insulation, contents — is typically covered. The dam removal itself and the insulation upgrade that prevents the next one usually are not. The claim file needs the interior damage documented; the prevention work is quoted separately as maintenance.
Steam removal $400 to $1,500 by roof size and dam length; interior drying $1,200 to $4,000; ceiling and insulation repair $800 to $3,500; the air-sealing and insulation upgrade that prevents recurrence $1,500 to $4,000. Prevention is quoted as its own line so you can choose it.
Our certified technicians respond fast, assess the damage, and give you a clear plan — with no obligation and no up-front cost.