Ice Dams Cause Huge Backup For Companies That Clean Roofs

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Snowstorms and weather fluctuations are causing houses all around the Twin Cities to be plagued by huge icicles, which can be a sign of an ice dam.

A large number of houses with ice dams are overwhelming companies that clean roofs.

"We go from obviously no phone calls 11 months out of the year, to over 1,000 phone calls, and 200 voicemail, but our system stops at 200," said Ice Dam Guys owner Joe Palumbo.

Ice Dam Guys have 26 technicians, and some of them work through the night to finish the job. One technician was on the roof until 2 a.m. Saturday. According to Palumbo, he lets his technicians work until they feel it is unsafe to continue.

"You can't really staff for anything like this. That's the one tricky part about this business," Palumbo said. "For three weeks out of the year, you need 800 guys. Well, that's not possible, so you just do the best you can."

Palumbo said most people that call his company are very familiar with ice dams.

"It's usually people that had a problem, or have a problem. Not a lot of people just doing maintenance, just saying, 'I see ice dams, I don't want a leak, come take care of them.' We don't get a lot of that," Palumbo said.