Winter in Calgary is no laughing matter. It can feel like forever from the time that first snowfall hits the ground to the last remnants of the snowpack melting away. Throughout all that time, you’ve got to keep you and your family moving, both literally and metaphorically speaking. For the literal part, there’s plenty to do to keep your sidewalks clear of snow and ice so you can go about your day to day lives, while to keep everyone moving metaphorically, well that’s down to your own powers of motivation!
The Perils of an Untreated Sidewalk
There’s something magically transformative about snow in Calgary. It turns the mundane into the magical, and the white frosting makes everything seem clean and fresh. However, underneath the beauty of newly fallen snow is the danger of ice. It’s obvious that leaving your sidewalk untreated can make things slippery, both for you and your family and anyone walking by your house. There’s nothing worse than falling on hard ice when it’s also below freezing outside.
Leaving ice untreated on your sidewalks also makes it easier for more ice to accumulate. Think about how cold the sidewalk has to be for the snow stick, and how the early snow storms melt away quickly. If your sidewalk already has a layer of cold ice, any new precipitation will simply sit on top of it, making it thicker and less easy to remove. Finally, leaving even a thin layer of snow and ice out when the temperatures remain below freezing for a few days will leave you with what feels like concrete as you try to break it apart.
Easy Sidewalk Snow Removal Tips
Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to take of your sidewalk snow, as long as you have the right tools for the job, and a proactive plan to look after your walkways.
Watch The Forecasts
If you’ve been in Calgary for long enough, you should have found a weather app or website that you trust to give you accurate predictions of any incoming storms. Likewise, if you haven’t done this yet, this should be the first thing on your snow removal checklist. Knowing when snow is coming, how much is likely to fall, and when it’s likely to start and stop are all key pieces of information to help you stay on top of your sidewalk snow removal.
Prepare The Surfaces
The science behind icy sidewalks is that cold precipitation (like snow, ice or sleet) is inherently sticky when it comes into contact with other cold and wet surfaces. This is what helps your kids to make great snowmen, but also what causes snow and ice to stick to your sidewalks. The trick, therefore, is to make your sidewalks warmer so that the snow and ice have less of a chance to stick. The most common way to do this is to put some icemelt down BEFORE the snow comes. This chemical compound raises the temperature of whatever it comes into contact with, so while you’ll never burn your hands by touching it, it will heat your sidewalk enough to make snow removal easy. A more expensive option is to install heating pads which will take care of even the bigger snowfalls, but these are bulky and will run your electricity bill through the roof during the more severe Calgary winters. Finally, a pro tip for fall is to clear your sidewalks of leaves and moss, as these freeze solid quickly and can make your sidewalk snow removal significantly more problematic.
Shovel More To Shovel Less
While no one actively wants to be outside in the middle of a Calgary snowstorm, it’s also true that no one wants to spend hours clearing snow and ice from their sidewalks in the cold aftermath either. Once you know how long the storm last, approximately, and you’ve prepared the sidewalk surfaces, then you need to be out at least a couple of times during the storm to clear the snow from your sidewalks. This may feel like a more onerous task, but you’ll find that it’s actually quicker to clear an inch or two at a time (and significantly less stress on your body!) and you’ll spend less time outside overall compared to just waiting for the end of the storm.
Get The Professionals To Help
As with any property maintenance chore, there’s always a balance to be had between the amount of time and effort you put into getting the chore done versus the amount of money it would take to have someone else take care of it for you. In the case of clearing the snow and ice from your sidewalks and pathways, there’s no real contest. On the one hand, you’ve got the option of monitoring snow forecasts, buying and spreading icemelt everywhere, and then bundling up and heading out into the storm every few hours to keep everything clean. On the other hand, you’ve got a quick phone call to Scoop Cut N Shovel, and then a small subscription fee and suddenly your sidewalks remain clear and easy to use all winter long.
Bundle To Save More
Once you’ve got used to the idea that having someone else take care of the property maintenance chores that you really don’t want to deal with is a great use of your money, you’ll start to wonder what else the property maintenance experts at Scoop Cut N Shovel can help you out with. The answer is: pretty much everything for every season. Whether it’s a one time fall or spring clean up for your yard, lawncare throughout the summer or simply someone to come and remove your dog waste throughout the year, we’ve got you covered with a variety of subscription packages. The best deals can be found when you bundle multiple subscriptions together, while our year round property maintenance package means that we’ll take care of everything for you, allowing you to enjoy the best of every season in Calgary.