7 Snow Removal Hacks to Deal with Your Driveway, Yard, and House This Winter

By Christina Cush

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Watching that white fluffy stuff fall from the sky can be beautiful and even mesmerizing, it’s just the snow removal part of the equation that is painstaking. With a little foresight and preparation, you can face the next snow dump knowing you are ready to prevent ice damming on your roof, slipping on your walkway, and tweaking your back while shoveling. Thanks to Danny Watson, home improvement and tool expert at The Home Depot, and Matthew Fleischer, a licensed roofing contractor with Fleischer Bros in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania, here are tips and tools that might even get you feeling a little less frosty about snow removal.

Some homeowners are more inclined to let a machine do the heavy work for them. If this sounds like you, here’s some tips on picking out a snow blower that best suits your needs, according to Watson. Electric snow blowers are corded and good for clearing light to moderate snow off patios, porches, walkways and small-to-medium-size driveways. Cordless snow blowers are powered by high-voltage batteries and are effective on light, moderate, and heavy snow on walkways and driveways. Single-stage snow blowers are gas-powered and ideal for light to moderate snow on smaller paved and moderate sloped driveways and sidewalks. Two-stage snow blowers are gas-powered and built for removing large amounts of snow on medium-to-large-size driveways. Three-stage snow blowers are gas-powered and can chop through thick snow and ice from heavy snowfalls.

For best results, make sure the chute of your snow blower doesn’t fight with the direction of the wind; try to get out there before the snow stops falling, and get out again after the snowfall for maintenance. Decide which side of the driveway or pathway you’ll want the snow to be dumped. If you are dumping on both sides you can start in the middle of the driveway and emulate a zamboni at an ice rink.

40V HP Single-Stage Cordless Electric Snow Blower

The Home Depot

Watson says that you should choose a shovel that suits your height to get optimal leverage and remember to bend your knees when you scoop and toss the snow while engaging your core to avoid back pain. You’ll know it’s a good fit if the blade is on the ground and the total length of the shovel is elbow height. Watson likes the ergonomic Snow Joe Shovelution Strain-Reducing Snow Shovel with spring-assist handle.

Shovelution Strain-Reducing Snow Shovel

The Home Depot

It’s important to use a roof rake to remove up to four feet of snow from the edge of the roof. “The weight of a foot or more of snow on your room could become a problem, especially during the thaw and freeze cycle that could last for weeks after a snowstorm,” Fleischer says. “During that cycle, ice can back up and get under your shingles and destroy your interior.” If you rake your roof around the edges, you’re giving the snow room to slide down and thin out when it does thaw. Fleischer recommends waiting until a snowstorm has ended before you roof rake and to never use a ladder in the snow. Most roof rakes are lightweight and made of aluminum. Fleischer notes that you may have to go out and rake the roof a few times after the snow thaws and refreezes, but never to rake it down to the shingle and always leave a thin layer of snow on it.

Costway 20 FT Aluminum Snow Roof Rake

The Home Depot

Fleischer, a recreational hockey player, likes his ice in a rink and not forming into gargantuan structures that weigh down the facia or gutters. He says to knock them off using whatever you have in your garage (not a chain saw) and try not to let them get too big, especially if they are near a walkway. A sturdy broom with heavy-duty bristles should do the trick without damaging your house exterior.

Yocada Push Broom Brush

Amazon

Heat coils—heat cables, also known as heat tape, heat wire, or roof ice cables, are heated cables that can be attached to your roof–are helpful in melting snow, but they are not going to be useful if your gutters are full of leaves and debris before the snow falls. Fleischer says clogged gutters will back up the minute you get melting snow in the downspout, rendering your roof coils pointless. Fleischer says to in order to protect his customers from a tough Pennsylvania winter, his team runs heating coils through gutters and downspouts, as well as up and down the first three feet of a roof. You don’t want the water flow to back up under your shingles, which is why your roof coils or heating cables should be installed by a licensed roofing contractor. “You have to be careful not to ruin the warranty of a roof and use clips that don’t puncture the roof but keep the cables in place,” Fleischer says.

For those concerned about the safety or energy usage of heating coils, here are some reassuring details: They are low voltage and best for a pitched shingle roof, they can run on a timer that’s plugged into an outlet, and most have a temperature-triggered sensor that turns on when it’s super cold.

Frost King RC160 Automatic Electric Roof Cable Kits

Amazon

If you have dry outdoor steps and staircases, you can prep them before the next snowstorm hits, Watson says. Anti-slip safety tape, from 3M or Gorilla, works great and sticks to most surfaces. Watson also adds that Behr and Glidden have anti-slip porch paint that can be applied as an extra precaution.

One homeowner, Alicia Lyon, a self-proclaimed snow pro who has to wrangle three kids and several dogs from slipping and sliding outside her Connecticut and Idaho homes, uses electric heated floor mats from Heat Trak on her front stoop and walkways. You can use outdoor extension cords to keep them powered up.

Gorilla Anti-Slip Tread Tape

Amazon

Ice melting products are to be spread on icy surfaces (driveways, sidewalks) after the snow layer is removed first, Watson says. Though many products are made for the ground, some are designed to be used on roofs, like RoofMelt tablets that thaw out surfaces within an hour. For owners who worry about the harsh ice melt salt or chemicals hurting their pets’ paws (or even their garden plants), there are a variety of pet-safe ice melt products such as Eco-Traction and Green Earth Pet Friendly Safety Salt Handle Bag. Some ice melts come with a scooper for you to sprinkle evenly over the icy surfaces. You can also use a handheld ice melt spreader or one on wheels, which functions like a lawn seed spreader.

Scotts Wizz Spreader

Amazon