Ice dam prevention in Coeur d'Alene comes down to one thing: keeping the roof deck cold enough that snow does not melt from underneath. When warm air leaks out of the house into the attic, it warms the deck, the snow melts, and the water runs down to the cold eave and freezes. Let that go on for a few weeks in January and you get a ridge of ice holding back a pond of meltwater.
We see this most on low-slope roofs, older homes in the Garden District and Fort Grounds with little attic space, and cabins with vaulted ceilings and no vent channel. Our crew looks at air sealing at the top plates, can lights and attic hatch. We check insulation depth. Then we check ventilation, meaning soffit intake that is actually open and a ridge or roof vent that lets that air out.
On a reroof we install ice and water shield from the eave up to at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, which is what the International Residential Code asks for where ice damming is a common problem. On many North Idaho homes we run it higher, into the valleys and around every penetration.
If you already have ice built up, we handle ice dam removal with low-pressure steam, never hatchets or salt pucks that eat the shingles. Where the building cannot be fixed easily, heat cable installation is the fallback.
