Caledonia Ice Dams: What Lake-Effect Snow Does to an Eave
What makes Racine County roofs dam is not the seasonal total, it is how the snow arrives. Bands dump a heavy, saturated pack in hours, and that pack becomes a water reservoir sitting on a heated surface.
The damage comes on the thaw. Warm air leaking into the attic melts the underside of that pack, the meltwater runs to an eave that is still well below freezing, and it sets. Repeat that four or five times in a January and the ridge of ice at the gutter line stops being cosmetic.
Ice-barrier practice in Racine County
Ice-barrier membrane at the eaves is standard practice across the lake-effect counties, and most Wisconsin jurisdictions enforce it on re-roofs. If your roof predates that, the eave has nothing under the shingles holding water out.
The Caledonia Dispatch Process, Step by Step
Nothing gets touched until the roof has been walked and photographed. The crew finds every dam, locates where water is getting in, shows you, and gives you the crew-hour rate and a time estimate before the equipment comes off the truck.
Removal then works from the worst point outward, so water starts draining early rather than at the end. Gutters and downspouts frozen solid get steamed through in the same visit — leaving them means the eave dams again within days.
What happens after the ice is off
Once the eave is clear and water is draining, the crew walks the interior with you where there is visible damage and says plainly whether it needs drying. Wet insulation and a damp ceiling cavity do not resolve themselves in a cold Caledonia February.
If it does, that is a separate scope and it gets written separately — nobody is upsold a dryout on the strength of one damp patch.
What the dam has already done to the gutter and fascia
Ice expands as it forms, and a trough packed solid pushes the gutter away from the fascia a little more every cycle. By the time the dam is thick enough to leak, the hangers are often pulled, the back of the trough has lifted, and the fascia board behind it has been wet for weeks.
None of that is visible until the ice is off. It gets photographed when it appears, because a bent gutter found in February is a great deal easier to argue about with a carrier than one discovered in May.
What steam actually does
A steam unit delivers water at roughly 290°F at a pressure low enough to rest your hand in the plume. It cuts a channel straight through the ice and lifts the dam off in sections, right down to the shingle. The heat does the work, not force, so granules, seal strips and flashing come through untouched.
That is the whole difference between steam and the hot pressure washers often sold as steam. A pressure washer cuts ice fast because of its pressure — and that same pressure strips the granules off asphalt shingles and drives water up under the courses. One method removes ice. The other removes ice and roof.
| Pricing model | Billed by the crew hour, rate quoted before dispatch |
|---|---|
| Service | Ice dam removal in Caledonia, WI |
| Typical scope | Steam, 6-12 crew hours typical |
| Removal method | Low-pressure steam only. No chipping, salt or pressure washing. |
| Documentation | Dated before and after photos, written scope in Xactimate line items |
| Primary climate stressor | Lake-effect bands, wet heavy pack |
| Dispatch window | Same day to 24 hours |
Neighborhoods and Towns We Reach From Caledonia
Crews working Caledonia cover the adjoining communities on the same route — Franksville, Greendale, Cudahy, Sturtevant and Hales Corners — so a storm week usually means one truck handling several addresses in Racine County rather than separate trips.
Nearest hub towns with their own crew pages: Oak Creek, South Milwaukee, Franklin, Mount Pleasant, Racine, Greenfield.
Caledonia sits inside the regular Wisconsin service area, so a crew is usually scheduled the same day or the following morning.
Water coming in right now in Caledonia? Call (888) 561-9664. Active interior leaks go to the front of the schedule.
