Winter Comes Quickly! 4 Snow Removal Tips For Homeowners
After decades of lessening amounts of snowfall, recent record-breaking snowstorms have reignited concerns about snow removal options for residential homeowners. While vast amounts of virgin snow is a beautiful site to behold, it does pose significant problems for homeowners, including the ability to leave their home safely and travel to work or obtain needed supplies or services.
If the snow becomes deep enough, even homes and other structures can buckle or experience damage from the weight and pressure. If you are looking ahead to determine a good snow removal plan to keep your home and family safe in the coming winter, the following tips are a great place to begin.
Use preventative treatment
Pre-treating your driveway and sidewalks with a commercially available chemical product that melts snow and ice on contact can be very helpful in slowing down the accumulation of snow. While it will not be enough to prevent snow buildup when several inches fall, it will help to make walking safer and can also help to make other snow removal methods more effective.
When purchasing a chemical product for the purpose of melting snow, look for one that is both environmentally safe and approved for use on the surface type where it will be applied.
Use an aggressive shoveling strategy
Shoveling snow is a tried and true removal strategy, but most homeowners will agree that it is also very hard work. The secret to making snow removal less physically stressful is to use an incremental approach instead of trying to remove it all at one time. A good plan is to shovel frequently, while the snow is still falling. Doing this will mean the difference between skimming a few inches off surfaces easily or having to strain to remove heavy shovels full of wet or packed snow.
Use a snow blowing machine
Buying, renting, or borrowing a mechanical snow blower is another option for residential snow removal. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find one to rent or borrow during periods of heavy demand and purchasing one may not be in the budget of the average household.
Use a snow removal service
For most households, a snow removal service can be the best option. In addition to having the equipment necessary to quickly clear driveway and sidewalk surfaces, many snow removal services offer additional options, including clearing private drives and parking areas, pretreating surfaces, and ice removal. Additionally, many also offer snow removal services for residential roofs to prevent damage from the weight of heavy snowfalls.
To learn more about the benefits of utilizing professional snow removal services, contact a snow removal company such as A Thru Z Construction in your area.