Do this first
What to do right now
- Move everything away from the wet interior wall and put down towels or buckets.
- Do not chip, hammer or chisel the ice: you will destroy the shingles underneath and possibly the gutter.
- Do not use rock salt or calcium chloride in a sock on the roof: it stains masonry, corrodes flashing and kills plantings below.
- If you can safely reach from the ground, pull snow off the lower three or four feet of roof with a roof rake.
- Photograph the ice, the icicles and the interior damage for your insurer.
- Call for low-pressure steam removal in Manchester, not a pressure washer, which strips granules.
An ice dam is an attic problem wearing a roof costume
Ice dams form when the upper part of a roof is above freezing and the eaves are below it. Heat escaping from the living space warms the roof deck, snow on that section melts, the meltwater runs down to the cold overhang, which has no heated space beneath it, and refreezes. The ridge of ice grows, ponds water behind it, and that standing water works its way under the shingle courses. Shingles shed water; they do not hold back a pond. Once water gets past them it runs down the sheathing into the wall cavity, which is why the stain often appears on an exterior wall rather than the ceiling.
New England gives Manchester the exact conditions for this: heavy snow that sits rather than sliding, and long stretches where daytime temperatures hover around freezing while nights drop well below. Older Connecticut houses make it worse, knee-wall attics, plaster ceilings with no air barrier, recessed lights punched through the ceiling plane, bathroom fans vented into the attic instead of outdoors, and a few inches of settled original insulation.
Removal now, prevention before next winter
Emergency removal should be done with low-pressure steam. Steam melts a channel through the dam without damaging the roof covering. Pressure washers, hammers, chisels and blowtorches all damage shingles, and the damage does not show until spring. Expect the crew to open channels to let the pond drain rather than trying to strip every bit of ice off the eave.
The permanent fix is air sealing and insulation, then ventilation, in that order. Sealing the leaks between the heated space and the attic (top plates, chimney chases, wiring penetrations, attic hatch) matters more than adding depth of insulation on top of a leaky ceiling. After that, balanced soffit-to-ridge ventilation keeps the deck cold. Ice and water shield along the eaves is a backstop for when a dam forms anyway, and is standard practice on Connecticut re-roofs. Heat cables treat the symptom and add an electric bill; treat them as a last resort on a problem roof geometry.
Confirm any contractor holds a current Connecticut Home Improvement Contractor registration with the Department of Consumer Protection, and check your own policy with your insurer for how ice dam damage is treated.
