Penn Ohio Roofing
Ice Dam Removal in Boardman, OH
In-house crews out of our Sharon, PA shop.
Boardman's ice dams do not look like Youngstown's. Low pitches and wide eaves produce long, shallow dams that run the entire length of an eave rather than concentrated ice masses in a valley — and shallow dams push water under more courses, not fewer.
Long Shallow Dams on Wide Eaves
On a 4/12 Boardman ranch with a 24-inch overhang, meltwater has a long, cold, unheated run before it reaches the gutter. The dam that forms is only a few inches tall but stretches thirty feet, and the water it backs up sits over a much larger area of the roof than a tall valley dam would. That is why Boardman ice dam leaks tend to appear as broad ceiling stains along an exterior wall rather than one concentrated drip.
Steam Removal and the Gutter Problem
We clear with low-pressure steam only. On Boardman homes the gutter itself is usually frozen solid as part of the dam, and clearing the roof without clearing the gutter and the downspout leaves the next melt cycle nowhere to go. We clear the full path, and we never chip — chipping cracks cold shingle and bends aluminum.
Attic Air Sealing Ends It Permanently
Boardman attics are generally accessible and reasonably easy to fix, which makes the permanent solution cheaper here than in Youngstown's older stock. Seal the ceiling bypasses — bath fans, recessed cans, the attic hatch, top plates — bring insulation up to depth, and confirm soffit intake is not buried under blown insulation, which on Boardman ranches is the most common single cause. Baffles at the eave cost very little and solve most of it.
What Is Ice Dam Removal?
Ice dam removal is the process of clearing the thick ridge of ice that builds up along the edge of a roof during winter. Left alone, that ridge stops melted snow from draining, so water pools behind it, works back up under the shingles, and leaks into the ceilings, walls, and insulation of the house. In Boardman, OH, ice dam removal is a winter emergency service — the goal is to open a drainage path through the ice before the next thaw cycle pushes water inside.
How Ice Dams Form on Boardman Roofs
- 1Snow accumulates on the roof. Heat escaping the attic warms the deck under the snow and melts the bottom layer, even when the outside air is well below freezing.
- 2That meltwater runs down the slope until it reaches the eave and the gutter — the parts of the roof that overhang unheated space and stay at outdoor temperature.
- 3At the cold eave the water refreezes. Repeat that over a few days and the refrozen ice builds into a solid dam several inches thick along the edge, usually with a row of icicles hanging off the gutter.
- 4Once the dam is tall enough, meltwater backs up behind it and sits on the roof. Shingles shed water — they do not hold standing water — so it wicks up under the courses and through the deck.
- 5The first thing most Boardman homeowners notice is a brown stain on a ceiling or the top of an exterior wall, sometimes weeks after the ice appeared.
Safe Removal Methods
- Low-pressure steam. A steamer melts a channel through the ice at roughly 300°F but at low pressure, so it removes ice without touching the shingle surface. It is the only method manufacturers accept on an asphalt roof in winter.
- Clear the full drain path — roof, gutter, and downspout. Melting a channel in the roof ice while the gutter is still frozen solid just moves the problem a foot to the left.
- Roof raking from the ground. Pulling the lower three or four feet of snow off after a heavy fall is genuinely useful, low risk, and something a homeowner can do safely with a telescoping rake and both feet on the ground.
- Interior triage first. If water is actively coming in, catch it, and if a ceiling is bulging, relieve the water with a small hole rather than letting a section of drywall come down.
- Photograph everything. Interior water damage from ice and snow is frequently covered under weight-of-ice-and-snow provisions, and the documentation matters.
Methods to Avoid
- Chipping with a hammer, hatchet, or spade. Cold asphalt shingle is brittle — chipping cracks it and gouges the deck, and the leak you create is bigger than the one the dam was causing.
- Pressure washing. High pressure strips granules and drives water under the courses.
- Rock salt or calcium chloride socks. They corrode aluminum gutters, flashing, and fasteners, stain masonry and siding, and kill the plantings below. They also only open a small hole for a short time.
- Torches and open flame. This is how houses burn down in January. Never.
- Climbing an icy roof. Even experienced roofers do not walk an ice-covered slope; the work happens from a ladder and from the ground.
- Treating heat cable as a fix. It manages a symptom, costs money every winter, and leaves the underlying attic problem in place.
Warning Signs on a Boardman, OH Home
- Icicles more than a foot long hanging from gutters or the eave.
- A visible ridge or shelf of ice along the roof edge, with clear standing water or slush behind it.
- Snow melted off the middle of the roof while the eaves stay packed — a direct sign of attic heat loss.
- Water stains on ceilings or at the top of exterior walls, or peeling paint along an outside wall.
- Damp or matted attic insulation, frost on the underside of the roof deck, or a musty smell in the attic.
- Gutters pulling away from the fascia under the weight of ice.
What Drives the Cost of Ice Dam Removal in Boardman
- •Linear feet of dam, and how thick it is — a 20-foot ridge on one eave is a very different job from an entire perimeter.
- •Roof height and access. Second- and third-story eaves take longer to set up safely.
- •Whether the gutters and downspouts are frozen solid and have to be opened as well.
- •Whether it is an active-leak emergency call during a storm event, or a scheduled clearing.
- •Removal is billed hourly with a two-hour minimum, quoted firm before we start work.
Ice Dam Removal Work Near Boardman
Representative projects from our crews across the Shenango Valley and the PA/OH border.
Manufacturer credentials
- GAF Master Elite Contractor. Held by a small percentage of roofing contractors nationwide. Required to install the GAF Golden Pledge warranty — 50 years on materials, 25 years on workmanship, transferable once. GAF inspects the completed roof before issuing the warranty.
- Owens Corning Preferred Contractor.
- IKO Craftsman.
- Fully insured in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In-house crews — no subcontractors. Family-owned and operating out of Sharon, PA since 2000.
Path 1 — Insurance claim
For wind, hail, or storm-driven damage. We walk the roof with your insurance adjuster and document what we find so nothing that should be covered gets missed. We are not a public adjuster — that is a separate PA license — and we do not negotiate the settlement. We document damage, meet the adjuster, and rebuild what the carrier approves to code and to manufacturer spec.
Path 2 — Retail with financing
For roofs simply reaching the end of their life. 0% interest financing on shorter terms and long-term financing that keeps monthly payments low. Runs through a lending partner and is subject to credit approval. We walk through both paths in the free in-home estimate before you sign anything. See financing details →
Frequently Asked Questions — Boardman
- Why does my Boardman ranch get ice dams every single year?
- Almost always because blown insulation has buried the soffit intake, so the attic cannot flush warm air. It repeats annually until that is corrected, and correcting it is not expensive.
- How much does ice dam removal cost?
- Hourly with a two-hour minimum, quoted before we start. Long shallow Boardman eave dams often take longer than they look because of the run length.
- Are heat cables a good idea?
- They manage the symptom and cost money to run every winter. On a Boardman ranch the attic fix is usually cheap enough that cables are the worse investment.
- Can I just pull the snow off with a roof rake?
- Raking the bottom three to four feet of a low-slope Boardman roof after a heavy snow genuinely helps and is low risk from the ground. Do not climb, and do not chip existing ice.