Ice Dam Removal in Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Every Michigan winter writes the same recipe, and Dearborn Heights’ 1950s–60s housing stock follows it faithfully: snow, attic heat, a freezing eave, and a roof that rains inside the house. Ice dam removal here is steam work — melt the dam without shredding the shingles, dry the attic wetting it caused, and then fix the attic physics that built the dam so next January behaves.

How the Dam Builds (and Why It Targets This Housing)

The mechanics run the same every year:

1. Heat escapes the living space through the ceiling plane — recessed lights, bath fan housings, top plates, and the uninsulated gaps common in mid-century construction.
2. Snow on the roof melts from below and runs to the eave.
3. The eave stays cold (it sits over the unheated overhang, outside the thermal envelope) and refreezes the runoff into a ridge.
4. The ridge grows until it pools meltwater behind it — and that ponded water finds every shingle seam and walks indoors.

The local amplifier: many Dearborn Heights homes carry add-on insulation over old construction with ventilation that never got updated — bath fans terminating in the attic, soffit vents painted shut, insulation pushed against the deck. Warm spots on the roof melt snow in stripes; stripes become dams.

Steam, Not Chisels — the Removal Rules

Method	What happens to the roof
Chisels, hammers, picks	Shingle tears, granule loss, voided warranties — never
Hot water at high pressure	Strips granules like a pressure washer — no
Rock salt / calcium on the roof	Kills shrubs, corrodes flashing, stains — no
Low-pressure steam	Melts the dam in place, shingles untouched — yes

Professional steamers convert standard units to deliver true low-pressure high-temp output. A typical eave dam releases in 1–3 hours; heavy two-story ice takes longer. The attic wetting behind it is a separate job that starts the same visit.

The Interior Half of the Job

The dam is the headline; the attic is the loss. Dam backup wets insulation at the eaves, stains the ceiling drywall in bedrooms, and drips at window heads for weeks. The response:

1. Steam the dam before the next melt-freeze cycle adds water.
2. Map the interior wetting — insulation moisture readings at the eave bays, ceiling cavity checks, window-head stains documented.
3. Dry and swap — wet attic batts replaced (they never recover), ceiling sections cut where the board failed, seal-and-repaint where it did not.
4. Document for the claim — interior water damage from ice damming is typically a covered event; the photo and reading file is what gets it approved.

The Prevention Stack, in Order

1. Air-seal the ceiling plane — the #1 fix, always: recessed lights, fan housings, top plates sealed so warm air cannot leak into the attic.
2. Restore ventilation balance — soffit intake cleared and baffled, ridge or roof vents unobstructed; cold deck above, warm rooms below.
3. Insulate to current depth — bring eave bays and the whole attic to modern R-values without blocking intake.
4. Heat cable as a last resort — only on problem valleys and eaves after the physics are fixed; cables treat symptoms and cost every winter they run.

Done in that order, most homes stop damming entirely. Done out of order (cables first, sealing never), the problem returns every January.

What the Whole Job Costs

Scope	Typical range
Dam steaming, standard eave run	$400 – $1,200
Heavy/two-story ice	$800 – $2,500
Attic insulation swap after backup	$400 – $1,600
Ceiling repair + paint after dam leak	$700 – $2,200
Prevention stack (seal + vent + insulate)	$1,500 – $4,000

Free inspection in the off-season prices the prevention work while the weather cooperates.

The dam you see in January is paid for in June — in the insulation that stays damp, the ceiling texture that keeps staining, and the shingles a chisel would have shredded. Steam it this winter; seal and ventilate it this summer. The fix is seasonal, and the order is everything.

Dams We Steam Across the City

Eave lines through Annapolis Park, the Beech Daly and Pelham neighborhoods, the Ford and Telegraph corridor homes, and the west-side streets toward Inkster Road — plus Dearborn, Westland, Taylor, Garden City, and the west-metro suburbs.

Water spot blooming on the bedroom ceiling this winter? Call — steam is on the truck and the ceiling is saveable if we beat the next melt.