Ice dams start in the attic, not on the eave, and the fix is keeping the roof deck cold from the inside out.
By keeping the roof deck cold, not by removing the ice. An ice dam forms when heat escaping from the house warms the middle of the roof, melts the snow sitting on it, and that meltwater runs down and refreezes at the cold eave where there is no heated space beneath. The permanent fix is air sealing and insulating the attic floor and getting balanced ventilation moving cold air under the deck. Raking, salting and heat cables only manage the symptom.
Ice dams are not really a cold weather problem, they are a cycling weather problem. A place that sits at a steady 15 degrees all winter actually gets fewer ice dams, because the snow just stays frozen on the roof and nothing melts. Long Island does not do that. Our winters swing above and below freezing repeatedly, sometimes within the same week, and that swing is the exact condition that melts snow and refreezes the meltwater over and over at the eave. Every thaw and refreeze adds another layer of ice, and the dam grows until water has nowhere to go but backward, under the shingles.
Homeowners usually start with the eave because that is where the ice is. The eave is the symptom. These three, in this order, are the actual cause.
Warm air leaking up around light fixtures, the attic hatch, plumbing stacks and top plates is the real heat source melting the snow above. Sealing those gaps is usually the highest-value fix on the list and it is also the least glamorous, because nobody can see it once it is done.
Insulation slows the heat that does get past the air sealing. The right depth depends on the house, so we will not put a number on it here. What matters just as much is where it stops. A very common Long Island failure is blown-in insulation pushed all the way out to the eaves, which smothers the soffit intake vents and suffocates the attic's ability to breathe.
Ridge vent for exhaust, and clear soffit vents for intake, working together. Exhaust without intake does not work, it just pulls conditioned air out of the house instead of cold outside air in, and that is the single most common ventilation mistake we find in Long Island attics.
It does not prevent the dam. It prevents the dam from leaking into the house, by sealing the eave area and around roof penetrations so that water backing up under the shingles has nowhere to go. Think of it as insurance, not a cure. It goes on during a roof replacement, which is exactly why a replacement is the natural moment to fix the air sealing, insulation and ventilation at the same time instead of one at a time.
Heat cables can be a reasonable stopgap on a problem eave, especially where the roof geometry makes a proper fix difficult, like a low-slope section or a valley that traps snow. They cost electricity every winter you run them, and they treat the symptom rather than the cause. Not a first choice. Not useless either, just the wrong place to start.
Chipping ice off a roof with a hammer or a chisel damages the shingles underneath, and getting up on an icy roof at all is genuinely dangerous. A roof rake used from the ground on the lower few feet of snow is the safe version, and it also removes the load that is feeding the dam.
A gutter packed solid with ice makes the dam worse, because it adds one more obstacle for meltwater to back up behind, but a clean gutter does not stop a dam from forming. That happens at the roof deck. Our gutter installation page covers keeping water moving once it reaches the eave.
If you are not sure whether what you are looking at is a normal Long Island winter or a sign the attic needs work, that is exactly what a roof inspection looks for: attic insulation depth and coverage, obvious air leaks, soffit vents that are actually clear, and whether the ice and water shield at your eaves is doing its job.
Usually it means the attic is, not the roof. Air sealing, insulation and ventilation live in the attic, and that is almost always where an ice dam problem actually starts, even on a roof that is otherwise in good shape.
Only if the ventilation and insulation work gets done along with it. New shingles and new ice and water shield on top of a leaky, under-insulated, poorly vented attic will produce the same ice dams next January. A replacement is the right moment to fix the attic side, but it does not happen automatically.
It depends on your policy and what caused the damage, and coverage details vary by carrier. Our roof replacement and insurance page walks through how that conversation generally goes on Long Island.
These are the reviews our customers left on Google. There are nine of them, we publish all nine, and we do not post a star rating we cannot verify.
Frank was excellent to deal with. I am doing my roof, siding and windows. We went through all the materials being used in great detail. He provided samples so I can see, touch and feel them for myself. He was not pushy or aggressive to sell me this job.
I would like to give a huge shout out to Coast 2 Coast Roofing & Exteriors! They did such an AMAZING job on our home. Please see our before and after pictures of our vinyl siding. They also did outdoor lighting and some home improvements. This company was reasonable, reliable, knowledgeable, efficient, clean and organized, and most of all great customer service! I highly recommend this company
They are courteous and professional and they get the job in the time they tell you that they are gonna get done. Overall, very satisfied with my window installation and porch renovation!
Start with the free inspection. You will get photos of what we found and a written scope you can read line by line, whether or not you hire us.
