Tips on Removing Snow from a Driveway Easily

Winter season isn’t the best time for cars and concrete driveways. For one, snow can easily pile up and cover your path. Second, the surface becomes too slippery for you to drive fast or even just run around on your feet. Thus, it’s important that you know the different ways to remove snow from a driveway.

Be Early and Improve Traction

When snow arrives, you must remove it as soon as possible. Getting rid of it immediately before it piles up and becomes hard to remove is always the most practical option. Once you notice that there are several inches of snow building up, you should be prepared for snow removal. Otherwise, ice could start to develop and make it difficult to keep your driveway clear of obstacles.

Likewise, you must spread materials that can improve your traction on snow and ice. These include wooden chips, straw, and even birdseeds. You can also use sand since it does not affect any plants near your driveway, but it has to be removed quickly before it enters the drainages and clogs them.

Using Salt and Ice Melt

Ice melt products typically work by providing heat that results from collecting moisture and developing liquid brine. Before you decide to use ice melt products, you must first ensure that the concrete is already more than a year old.

Otherwise, the ice melt can damage the concrete surface. Moreover, read the instructions carefully and only apply an adequate amount. The ice melt product you choose can hurt not only plants but also animals, so you must be cautious.

A cheaper way to melt snow is to use salt. However, this common strategy still needs to be used with utmost care. While it is a natural product, salt can lead to corrosion, which is always bad for any vehicle. Similarly, salt can be harmful to grass and it’s not good for the paws of your cats and dogs. Likewise, you should remove any fabrics and carpet materials when you are applying salt on the driveway.

Using a Shovel

Of course, you can always rely on using a shovel to dig out the snow from your driveway. While it’s not as powerful as a snow blower, it accomplishes the same task as well through manual efforts. However, you must remember that back injuries and frostbites can occur when you shovel. Thus, you must be physically prepared to do this.

First, you should do some stretching exercise and drink enough water. As for clothing, you should have several layers of it so that the cold temperature outside won’t affect you. Frostbite is no joke, and you should do everything to prevent it from happening to you. Still, you should find clothes that are easy to remove once you begin to sweat as you begin to shovel the snow.

Furthermore, you can remove snow efficiently if you spread cooking oil at the tip of the shovel. Snow will usually stick to the shovel blade even as you attempt to fling them away. With the application of oil, the snow will be thrown away easier. If you do not want to use cooking oil, you can put spread some candle wax over the shovel blade.

Do not walk or drive in the snow since this will make it harder to remove. You must have water available nearby for when you feel tired. Try having quick breaks every five minutes. Once you are shoveling the snow, you must have a good posture. Also, don’t put all of the weight and pressure onto your back. You should use your legs to stay balanced as you remove the snow.

Using a Suitable Snowblower

If you want to get rid of snow as fast and efficiently as possible, you should go for a snow blower. This will cost you more than the other options, but consider it as a worthy investment for all the winter seasons to come. Here, you should know what type of snow blower will work best for your snow-covered driveway.

Electric or Gas-Powered

If you have a smile driveway and the snowfall is light, you can get the lightweight electric-type snow blowers. Their relatively small size allows them to clear snow in areas that the bigger gas-powered variants can’t maneuver through with ease. Then again, a gas-powered snow blower will provide all the power you need to quickly clear both snow and ice from your driveways and sidewalks.

Single-Stage, Two-Stage, and Three-Stage

Furthermore, you must know whether you want a single-stage, two-stage, or a three-stage snow blower. The single-stage variant works by having a spinning auger. This then gathers all the snow that is thrown out through the chute. The biggest single stage snow blower likely has a width of at least 22 inches.

However, it’s better to use at least a second-stage snow blower if the snow depth in your driveway has already reached about 12 inches. As the name implies, this machine will throw the collected snow away two times. A high-speed impeller is used to get the snow and ice out through the discharge chute. Since this type of snow blower does not directly come into contact with the ground, you shouldn’t worry about damaging gravel and concrete surface.

The most expensive and powerful type of snow blower is the three-stage variant. It utilizes two metal augers to collect all the snow and ice. Next, an accelerator will cut the snow and ice down into smaller pieces before they go through an impeller. Finally, they are quickly thrown out through the chute. Then again, the three-stage snow blower is only a practical choice if you have a large driveway that’s experiencing heavy snowfall all the time.

In conclusion, there are several things that you can do to get rid of snow in your driveway. You can use salt, an ice melt product, a shovel, and a snow blower. Regardless of the strategy you use, you must always be careful and well-informed of the procedure.

We hope that you learned a lot from our quick guide. If you have any questions, do give us a comment.