A Ann Arbor roof can look fine from the driveway and still be backing water under the shingles at the eave, where nobody can see it. As part of our complete Ann Arbor winter roof services, crews handle commercial ice dam removal across Washtenaw County.
The Washtenaw County Trap: Modest Snow, Constant Cycling
Ann Arbor does not need a blizzard to get an ice dam. A few inches that melts by afternoon and refreezes overnight builds one just as effectively, and it does it over and over through the season.
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 Ann Arbor.
Ice-barrier practice in Washtenaw County
The residential code Michigan follows calls for eave ice barrier on new work. Enforcement in Washtenaw County is real but recent, so the age of the roof is what decides whether it is there.
Commercial Ice Dam Removal in Ann Arbor: How The Work Runs
Roof warranties and who is allowed up there
Most commercial membranes carry a manufacturer's warranty with conditions about who may work on the roof and what methods are permitted. Snow removal is generally fine; mechanical ice removal very often is not, and the wrong contractor with the wrong tool can void cover worth considerably more than the clearing.
The warranty gets read before the roof is walked, and the method used is one the document permits.
Flat roofs fail differently
A pitched residential roof dams at the eave. A commercial deck dams at its drainage: frozen scuppers, iced-over internal drains, and ponding that refreezes into a sheet across the low spots. Water then sits on the membrane at depth, finds a seam or a flashing detail, and comes through into the tenant space below.
Parapet walls make it worse by holding the melt on the deck instead of letting it run off an edge. By the time it shows up as a ceiling tile stain in an Ann Arbor unit, there is usually standing water up there.
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.
What the board or the owner gets
A condition report with dated photographs, what was found, what was done and what is still a risk — in a form that can go to a board, an owner or a carrier without being rewritten.
For a managed Ann Arbor property that document is usually the reason the spend gets approved without a second conversation.
Access control, hatches and escorts
Getting onto a commercial roof is a procedure: keys or fobs, a hatch that may be padlocked, a ladder in a locked plant room, sometimes a site induction and an escort for the duration.
Sorting that out with the property manager in advance is the difference between a crew starting at seven and a crew waiting in the parking lot until nine. Where a tenant controls the only access, that conversation happens before the dispatch rather than on the roof.
What you get in Ann Arbor
- Flow confirmed belowAn open drain throat over a frozen leader is not an open drain
- Drains and scuppers firstFlow restored before the ponded ice is worked
- Plant worked aroundHVAC curbs, conduit, racking and railing avoided, not cleared over
| Documentation | Dated before and after photos, written scope in Xactimate line items |
|---|---|
| Local ice-barrier practice | Eave membrane on new work, often absent |
| Service | Commercial Ice Dam Removal in Ann Arbor, MI |
| Removal method | Low-pressure steam only. No chipping, salt or pressure washing. |
| Pricing model | Billed by the crew hour, rate quoted before dispatch |
| Typical scope | Steam, 4-8 crew hours typical |
| Dispatch window | Same day to 24 hours |
Ann Arbor Coverage and the Adjoining Communities
Crews working Ann Arbor cover the adjoining communities on the same route — Saline, Dexter, Bridgewater, Whitmore Lake and Hamburg — so a storm week usually means one truck handling several addresses in Washtenaw County rather than separate trips.
Nearest hub towns with their own commercial ice dams pages: Ypsilanti, Novi, Westland, Livonia, Farmington Hills, Taylor.
When a storm hits Washtenaw County, crews are dispatched by severity rather than by call order — water already inside the house goes first.
Most jobs do not stop at one service. Commercial Ice Dams in Ann Arbor often runs alongside commercial roof snow removal in Ann Arbor, and both get written into one scope rather than billed as separate visits.
Active leak right now? Our 24/7 Ann Arbor steam ice dam removal crews are dispatched first during a freeze event. Call (888) 561-9664.
