Ice Dams again...

I was out at the boy's bus stop yesterday and one of the parents asked me about a large ice dam they had on the back side of their house. 

They had been thinking of using a propane torch to reduce the size of the ice dam, but that would use up a lot of propane and probably not reduce the ice dam by much. 
If the ice dam is thick, the best thing you can do is use an ice pick or chisel to get most of it off, but  DO NOT chisel all the way down to the shingles.  Leave some of the ice on the shingles, and for the last bit you can use ice melt in a nylon stocking (see earlier post).  Reminder:  do not use water softener salt because it will stain your shingles.

Next post:  keeping your furnace fresh air intake clear.