You're skating on thin ice if you let those icicles and ice dams linger around for too long.

"They almost always form because when the heat does rise into the attic space, the warm moist air has no where to go, it gets trapped, " said Dennis Duchene of Pinnacle Exterior Remodeling.

Trapped in your gutters, on your roof and between your roof shingles.

"It's literally just getting stopped, and backing up and getting larger and larger," Duchene said.

And once they thaw, it's an even larger expense that State Farm Insurance Agent Stacy Lewis has seen year after year.

"Thousands of dollars for just a wall, then eventually we see damage to the attic, water damage coming in, damage in the walls and the contents inside," Lewis said.

"We'll often go to tear off shingles on a house and find that the first three feet is completely destroyed, the decking itself, the wood," Duchene said.

Pinnacle Exterior Remodeling says the long-term solution is making sure your attic is properly insulated, and your roof ventilated.

"In the short-term they can apply, there are things that you can get a Lowe's or places like that, that are heat tape that gets applied in a triangular pattern and that keeps the ice from reforming on a temporary basis," Duchene said.

"You can take the roof rake and take the snow off, and hopefully that will prevent some of the ice damming," Lewis said.

Bottom line, knocking those icicles down may seem like a quick fix, but it won't fully take care of the problem

"You're not really doing anything to cause a solution to the problem, so as soon as there's a melt and re-freeze, they reform," Duchene said.

But some ice obstacles are inevitable.

"The excess moisture that we get in a Michigan melt cycle, you're going to get ice in your gutters," Duchene said.

State Farm Insurance says damage from ice dams and icicles should be covered under most Homeowners Insurance Policies as long as the roof has been maintained.