Roof Shoveling
Ice Dam Now provides roof shoveling across 38 cold-climate states. Deep pack, dead valleys and dormer pockets, cleared by hand where a rake cannot reach. Crews are licensed, insured and harness-certified, dispatch same day for active interior leaks, and bill by the crew hour at a rate quoted before dispatch. Dated photographs are supplied for insurance claims.
Some snow will not come off with a rake. Deep pack, dead valleys and anything behind a dormer has to be cleared by hand, from the roof.
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Where hand clearing is the only option
A roof rake reaches the first several feet from the edge and nothing beyond it. Dead valleys between roof planes, the pockets behind dormers and chimneys, low-slope and flat sections, and upper roofs on anything over a story and a half all need someone on the roof with a shovel.
Those are also the places snow collects deepest, because wind deposits it there and nothing sheds it. A roof can look mostly clear from the street and still be carrying two feet of drifted pack in the valleys.
How crews work without wrecking the roof
Plastic-bladed shovels only, never steel. Snow is cut and lifted in layers rather than scraped, and a cushion layer stays on the surface at all times so the blade never contacts shingle, membrane or seam. Discharge is aimed away from walkways, decks, shrubs and mechanical units.
Everyone on the roof is harnessed to a rated anchor. On an icy pitch that is not a formality — it is the whole reason this is not a homeowner job.
Shoveling and steaming together
On a roof that already has a dam, shoveling and steaming usually happen in the same visit: the pack comes off first so the crew can see and reach the ice, then the dam gets steamed off the eave. Doing it in that order means less steam time, which usually means a smaller invoice.
What you get
- Plastic blades onlyCut and lifted in layers, never scraped down to the surface
- Valleys and dormersThe pockets a rake physically cannot reach get cleared properly
- Harnessed and anchoredRated anchor points on every pitched roof, every time
- Controlled dischargeSnow lands away from walkways, decks, landscaping and HVAC
- Flat sections includedGarage, porch and addition roofs that shed nothing on their own
- Skylights worked aroundFlagged and avoided rather than cleared over
- Drains openedScuppers and outlets cleared so the melt has somewhere to go
Water coming in right now? Call (888) 561-9664. Active interior leaks go to the front of the schedule during a freeze event.
Roof Shoveling Across 38 States
Pick your state to find local dispatch, crews and response times for your city.
Northeast & New England
9 statesRockies & Pacific Snow Corridors
12 statesPlains, Mid-Atlantic & Appalachia
10 statesQuestions We Get About Roof Shoveling
For a harnessed crew with rated anchors and the right footwear, yes. For a homeowner in boots on an icy pitch, no — roof falls are the most common serious winter injury in this trade, and they happen to experienced people too.
Not the way crews do it. Plastic blades, snow cut in layers, and a cushion layer always left behind means the blade never reaches the shingle surface. The damage people picture comes from steel shovels scraped to bare roof.
Yes, and they are often the most urgent ones because they shed nothing on their own. Membrane roofs get the same treatment — plastic only, cushion layer kept, drains and scuppers cleared so the melt has somewhere to go.
Yes. If the problem is one dead valley or the pocket behind a chimney, that is all the crew touches. There is no minimum scope and no pressure to clear a whole roof that does not need it.
A rake reaches the first few feet of a single-story eave and nothing beyond it. Anything higher, anything low-slope, anything with valleys or dormers and anything where the pack has hardened needs a crew on the roof with the right tools. Where a rake genuinely would do, that gets said.
Yes, and those are the ones that most need it, because they shed nothing on their own. Clearing is done in layers down to a thin protective cover, with the drains and overflows opened as part of the job so meltwater has somewhere to go.
Typically two or three. More than that on a small residential roof concentrates weight and gets in its own way; fewer than that on a large deck turns a day into three. The number is set by the roof and quoted before anyone turns up.
Decks and porch roofs yes, and they are worth doing - a porch roof takes everything the main roof sheds as well as its own snow. Ground-level walkways and driveways get cleared where material has landed on them. A full driveway plough is a different trade and gets said rather than quietly added.
Roof Shoveling In Practice
What the work looks like on real roofs. Every job is photographed before and after.
What Usually Goes With It
Roof Snow Removal
No snow on the roof means no meltwater, and no meltwater means no new dam.
Request Snow ClearingIce Dam Removal
Low-pressure steam melts the dam off the eave in sections until the shingle is clear and water is draining again.
Book Ice Dam RemovalCrane-Assisted Snow Removal
Snow tarps rigged and lifted by boom crane where drifts are too deep and too heavy to move by hand.
Ask About A Crane PickGet A Crew Out
Tell us the address and what you are seeing. You get the rate on the phone before anyone is dispatched.