MADISON, Wis. -- Many homeowners are dealing with ice dams and ice buildup on their homes.

Those ice dams can cause extensive water damage inside, but it's not to late to deal with them before that happens.

Madison homeowner Jan Tanega said that ice buildup on her roof has caused quite a bit of damage.

"I guess it could be worse, but it's a pretty big section of wall and potentially the ceiling that's going to have to come down," Tanega said. "It's a really sinking feeling. You feel like your whole safety net of your home is just collapsing, and you just really want to do something right away."

Matt Winterberg, of Ganser Company, said his crews have been very busy with preventing ice dams, and now they're working to remove them.

"The real trouble with an ice dam is that it doesn't just cause issues with the gutter. That water's going to work back up the roof and cause interior damage, and then further costs are involved with that," Winterberg said.

Winterberg said a homeowner's best bet is to call in a professional if they see ice buildup. He said professionals can properly and safely melt the ice or chip it away.

"We have a lot of our existing customers that will climb up there, bravely, on the rooftops and try to chisel away at the ice dam. They problem with that is they do end up causing damage to the shingles at times, and that can cause further leaking, too," Winterberg said.

He said he recommends taking a proactive approach so that the roof doesn't get weighed down with a lot of ice buildup in the first place.

"Roofs, by nature, should not have ice dams, if they're done right," Winterberg said.

If homeowners have ice dam problems, contractors will first check insulation in the attic or in the crawl space above the ceiling. That insulation should keep snow and ice off the roof.

Snow rakes do help, but it really should be the home, and how it's built, that work to prevent ice from building up.

People can also install electric heat strips near their gutters to keep ice from forming there in the first place.