Ice dams are one of the most common and most misunderstood roofing problems in Milwaukee. Every winter, we get calls from homeowners with water coming through their ceilings — not from a roof failure, but from an ice dam that's backed water up under their shingles.
What Actually Causes Ice Dams
Ice dams aren't caused by cold. They're caused by heat loss from your living space warming the roof deck unevenly. Warm air escaping through the attic heats the upper portion of the roof, melting snow. That meltwater runs down to the colder eave overhang (where there's no warm attic below) and refreezes. The ice builds up, traps more meltwater, and that water finds its way through shingle laps and flashings into your home.
The root cause: inadequate attic insulation and/or attic air sealing.
What Doesn't Fix Ice Dams
- Heat cables: treat the symptom, not the cause. They consume electricity indefinitely and fail.
- Removing snow after storms: effective but labor-intensive. Doesn't solve the underlying problem.
- Just replacing the shingles: the new shingles will ice dam too, because the physics haven't changed.
What Does Fix Ice Dams
1. Attic air sealing — blocking the heat pathways from living space to attic (recessed lights, plumbing penetrations, attic hatches)
2. Insulation — minimum R-49 in Milwaukee County attics per current Wisconsin energy code
3. Proper ventilation — continuous soffit-to-ridge ventilation keeps the deck cold uniformly
4. Ice and water shield — required on all Apexium installations, minimum 6 feet from eave, prevents water infiltration even when ice dams form
Emergency Ice Dam Removal
If you have active water intrusion, Apexium offers safe steam-based ice dam removal — the only method that doesn't damage shingles. We don't chop, chip, or use heat guns on shingles.
After removal, schedule an attic inspection. We'll identify the heat loss source and give you options.
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