It is 50 degrees in beautiful balmy Boston, however, winter lurks!

My favorite ice dam removal guy, Jim Palumbo of Ice Dam Guys, is making a guest appearance here to educate us on 5 Free Ways to Save Money on Ice Dam Removal

“Although my company sometimes offers ice dam removal coupons, I hope and suspect that I’ve saved homeowners much more money by “educating” them on ice dams.

In the past 4 years of blogging, I’ve shared a lot of advice on how you can make ice dam removal easier for whomever you hire, and therefore less expensive for you. But my advice is spread out over many blog posts and other resources. It’s time to round it all up (or at least a good chunk of it).

It’s true that I’m a nice guy and like helping homeowners, but I’ve also got a “selfish” motivation for sharing money-saving tips with you: you’re a little more likely to get the ice dam removal help you need if you know there are steps you can take to make it more affordable. And if you can make the process go even more smoothly than expected, well, then you’re a happy customer, and obviously that’s good for business.

Here are 5 ice dam removal money-savers you can do right after you book your appointment:

Money-Saver #1: Do your best to make sure we have fast access to water.

You could let us dig our way to the water spigot, or spend time trying to find it. You could pay us to thaw out your spigot, or to do all of that shoveling. We won’t complain.

Or…you can save thirty minutes or more if you shovel a path for us, make sure you can identify the correct valve for us to turn on (ask someone else in your house if you don’t know!), and maybe even attempt to thaw the spigot yourself. Believe it or not, a hairdryer can work pretty well, and you can often do it from inside

Money-Saver #2: Move valuable objects away from your overhangs.

We’re happy to move them for you – but if you move them first then you’re not paying us to haul things back and forth. Also, you know which giant piles of snow likely contain your “stuff,” whereas we have no way of knowing that. Soon huge chunks of ice will be sliding off your roof. If there’s anything in your yard you don’t want to be crushed, please move it a good 15 feet outside of the hard-hat zone.

Money-Saver #3: Deal with your vehicle.

Ideally you’ll park your wheels in the street. You can also put it in the garage…but if you put it in the garage please make sure you don’t have to leave your garage today.

Once we get set up, it is a Herculean undertaking for us to move our truck so that you can get your car out of the driveway, and of course you’ll need to pay for that time. Once we turn on that water faucet we can’t stop steaming. Even a ten-second delay can freeze our equipment solid. You’re essentially going to send us through the whole take-down process (e.g. filling our steamer and hoses with antifreeze). Then you’re going to force us to go through the entire set-up process all over again. It will be the most expensive trip down your driveway you’ve ever made. Get your milk and cookies the night before. Or simply park your vehicle(s) on the street in preparation for the ice dam removal guys.

Money-Saver #4: Roof-rake as much snow as you can (safely).

Every square foot of snow you remove will save you money. Yes, you’ll have to put on your coat and hat, get a little cold, and push and pull that rake. But would you rather pay several hundred dollars (or more!) for the ice dam removal people to remove every inch of snow from your roof? Get a head-start before they show up and you can save a boatload of money.

Money-Saver #5: Know when to crank the heat up prior to our arrival.

Think about turning up the heat roughly 5 to 6 hours before your ice dam pro arrives. Crank it up to a nice, toasty 80+ degrees.

Yes, you will probably melt some more water on your roof, but if you don’t currently have an active leak, there is minimal risk in cranking up the heat shortly before your ice dam removal technician arrives. You’re going to warm up the attic, which will warm up your roof from the underside. This increases the likelihood that the ice will “pop” loose from the shingles more easily, making it much easier to remove. That ultimately means we’ll spend less of our time (and your money) steaming your ice dams.

$30 more on your heat bill could translate into many hundreds of dollars in ice dam removal. One time we saw this little trick save a customer a thousands of dollars.

Like many shortcuts in life, however, this one comes with a few caveats:

Caveat #1: This WILL NOT prevent or remove your ice dams.

You can’t just melt the ice dam away by cranking up your heat. If that worked, everyone would just suffer through 92 degree heat until the ice dams disappeared.

You should only try this trick on the day we’re coming, and (again) 5-6 hours before we arrive. Otherwise, you’ll just melt a bunch of snow that’s going to refreeze and add to your ice dam.

Caveat #2: Do not turn up the heat if you’ve got an active leak.

This tip is only for people whose homes are not leaking (yet), and who have educated themselves about ice dams enough to catch them and have them removed before there’s a problem. If you’ve got an active leak, then you need to do the opposite: turn down the heat. If you turn the heat up, although you may save money on ice dam removal, you’ll make the leak even worse and soak even more of your home’s guts. You’ll spend even more on repairs.

Again, the magic number is 5-6 hours before we arrive. But…should a leak develop inside your home, abort, and hold off on cranking up the heat until we get there and we’ve at least removed all the snow from atop your roof!

If you don’t have ice dam professionals on the way, then a hot roof is the very last thing you want. You should only turn up the heat if you know we’re on the way. If you’ve scheduled a same-day appointment you can feel pretty safe about turning up the heat the moment you get off the phone.

If you only remember one thing…

Most of these tips boil down to understanding this: once your ice dam removal technician arrives, he is “on the clock.” It doesn’t matter what he’s doing once he gets there. There are other homeowners likely waiting for his help, and any time spent messing with your water spigot (1) affects others and (2) costs you money. If you want to save money, simply make sure you’re not paying for activities you easily could have taken care of on your own.”

About the Author: Joe Palumbo is president of the Ice Dam Guys, who are based in Minneapolis but spent the winter of 2015 in the Boston area, helping homeowners battle ice dams.