Ice Dam Removal & Prevention in Providence, RI

We stop Providence ice dams from leaking into plaster ceilings and top-floor apartments

Much of Providence's housing went up long before anyone insulated an attic well. Heat from the top-floor apartment of a triple-decker, or from a finished third floor in a College Hill Victorian, rises into the roof deck and melts snow from underneath. That water runs down to the cold eave, freezes, and builds a ridge of ice. The next melt has nowhere to go, so it backs up under the shingles and shows up as a stain on a ceiling or a drip at the top of a window.

We take ice dams apart carefully and by hand. We cut channels through the ice so the water trapped behind it can drain off the roof and out through the gutters, leaving the shingles and gutters in one piece. On tall city houses we work from the right ladders and setup, with care for older shingles, trim and the fascia boards that hold your gutters. Call (401) 274-3030 or send a photo, and we respond the same business day.

Close spacing makes things worse in parts of the city. In Fox Point, Federal Hill and Smith Hill, houses stand near enough to shade each other, so the side of a roof facing the neighbor may hold snow long after the street has cleared. Big street trees add more shade on the East Side and in Elmhurst. Those shaded eaves are where dams tend to come back. Once the ice is open, we can install heat cables on those spots and clean the gutters before next winter.