Homeowners across Lake County call about icicles. Icicles are cosmetic. The dam behind them, holding back standing water, is not. As part of our complete Highland winter roof services, crews handle commercial ice dam removal across Lake County.
Small Snow, Repeated Cycles: Highland Ice Dams
Three inches of snow and a week of days above freezing and nights below it will build ice on a Lake County eave just as reliably as a foot of snow further north.
Because the winters read as mild, the building stock is not built for ice. Attic insulation is thinner, eave details are less considered, and ice barrier is more often absent than present on a roof in Highland.
Ice-barrier practice in Lake County
Because ice is not the first thing a homeowner in Highland thinks about, the eave membrane is the detail most often value-engineered out of a re-roof quote. It is worth asking for by name.
Commercial Ice Dam Removal in Highland: How The Work Runs
Overflow scuppers are the tell
Water running out of an overflow scupper in winter means the primary drains are not taking it. On a Highland building that is a sign the roof is holding standing water somewhere above a frozen drain, and the load is being carried rather than shed.
Scuppers are checked first for exactly that reason, and a dry scupper above a wet roof is as informative as a running one.
Working around rooftop plant
HVAC curbs, exhaust fans, conduit, gas lines, solar racking and railing are all obstacles and all drift traps. The snow behind a large unit is usually the deepest on the roof and the ice under it the thickest.
Crews work around and under them rather than over, and anything running stays running.
The pitched sections nobody plans for
Very few commercial buildings are flat all the way across. Entrance canopies, mansard faces, dormers over older frontages and the sloped transitions between roof levels all shed onto places where people walk.
Those sections behave like a residential roof and get worked like one - steam at the eave, snow guards noted where they are missing, and the pavement below cordoned while material is coming down.
Insulation above the deck changes the melt pattern
A modern commercial assembly puts most of its insulation above the deck, so very little building heat reaches the membrane. That is good for energy and it means the snow that lands mostly stays - the roof does not self-clear the way an under-insulated one does.
Where dams do form on those roofs it is almost always at a thermal bridge: a parapet, a curb, a drain bowl or a line of fasteners. Those are the spots crews work first.
Built for property managers
One contact, one scheduled window, one invoice coded the way your accounting needs it. Crews work around tenant hours where that matters, and the condition report goes to whoever has to show the board or the owner what was spent and why.
What you get in Highland
- Drains and scuppers firstFlow restored before the ponded ice is worked
- Overnight windows availableWork scheduled outside occupancy where access demands it
- EPDM, TPO and mod-bitLow-pressure steam only, seams and flashing details avoided
| Typical scope | Steam, 4-8 crew hours typical |
|---|---|
| Coverage area | Highland and Lake County |
| Local ice-barrier practice | Eave membrane on new work, often absent |
| Primary climate stressor | Repeated thaw-freeze cycling |
| Removal method | Low-pressure steam only. No chipping, salt or pressure washing. |
| Documentation | Dated before and after photos, written scope in Xactimate line items |
| Service | Commercial Ice Dam Removal in Highland, IN |
Where We Dispatch Around Highland
Crews working Highland cover the adjoining communities on the same route — Griffith, Dyer, East Chicago, Saint John and Whiting — so a storm week usually means one truck handling several addresses in Lake County rather than separate trips.
Nearest hub towns with their own commercial ice dams pages: Munster, Schererville, Hammond, Gary, Merrillville, Crown Point.
Coverage runs across Highland and the nearby towns all winter, and capacity is surged into whichever Indiana market the storm actually hits.
Most jobs do not stop at one service. Commercial Ice Dams in Highland often runs alongside commercial roof snow removal in Highland, and both get written into one scope rather than billed as separate visits.
Active leak right now? Our 24/7 Highland steam ice dam removal crews are dispatched first during a freeze event. Call (888) 561-9664.
