Snow-Be-Gone: Why Snow Removal is a Great Way to Protect Your Driveway

Snow may create a winter wonderland outside your home, but eventually, you’ll still have to brave the cold or work with a professional service to clear your driveway. Whether it’s because of local bylaws or because you wouldn’t dare leave your car buried, getting snow off your driveway is one part of the Great White North you can’t avoid.

But you’ve likely asked yourself why it matters that you remove the snow from your driveway or if it does anything other than make roads and paved areas easier to navigate. When you take care of any accumulation, however, you’re doing a service that protects the longevity of your driveway and the safety of yourself, your family, and anyone else who visits your property.

Let’s delve into the importance of driveway snow removal so you can understand how much this service helps you – regardless of whether you choose to do it yourself or turn to professional snow removal services.

What Goes into Snow Removal?

It’s pretty straightforward, but snow removal is just the act of getting snow off your property. Usually, it’s done around the driveway, sidewalks, and other paved areas outside your home.

There are several ways you can take care of removing snow. Equipment like shovels or snow blowers are some of the tried and true tools of snow removal, so professionals and homeowners alike use them.

As a homeowner, you can DIY snow removal and put in the work to rid yourself of the frozen white blanket around your home. The other option for most is turning to a professional company. When you go this route, a team visits your property and uses their industrial-grade equipment to quickly and efficiently banish snow from your grounds.

The process is relatively simple: snow falls, you pick your snow removal weapon of choice and then clear your pavement. If you choose a professional company, they’ll visit your home and remove the snow from your pavement. They’ll often even ensure that snow isn’t piling up on your lawn and causing damage to your grass and plants.

With professional services, you’ll likely have a package with multiple visits and other guarantees. For example, Green Drop snow removal plans offer unlimited visits to your property and a 24-hour guarantee.

Why Snow Removal is Good for Your Driveway

Getting snow off your pavement, whether a driveway or a sidewalk, is a great way to keep your driveway from going through a ton of potential damage. It also protects your vehicles and generally makes your property more accessible, which aids in avoiding other damages or issues on the property.

Keeps Cracks from Starting

Leaving snow on your property can carry a lot of risks. One of the biggest for your driveway is the potential for damages like cracks or potholes. This is often because of the freeze-and-thaw cycle accompanying regular winter snow.

Water will get under the asphalt and expand, worsening existing cracks or causing new ones to form after it is trapped underneath the surface of your driveway. These cracks make the asphalt brittle, so it’s more prone to breaking and causing expensive damage.

Less Need to Use Salt

Using salt to remove snow on the pavement is a common tactic. It helps snow melt faster and clear walkways. But this application has some downsides, like water pollution, danger to wildlife, and the harm it can cause to the structure of your driveway.

Avoiding salt for snow removal is a great way to protect the environment and your home. It does require that you shovel or snowblow your pavement quickly, however. A professional service can help you keep up with this, though you can still handle it if you have the equipment.

Keeps Your Vehicles from Potential Damage

Letting snow pile up around or under your vehicle risks damage to any vehicles parked on your driveway. This is because you can compromise your paint or cause problems on the underside that affect your machinery and other corrosion.

Treatments like salt and other de-icing agents can also add to the deterioration of your car, so avoiding it where you can can be great for long-term protection.

Makes Your Property More Accessible

Shovelling, snow blowing, or plowing snow on your property ensures that you and anyone else can access your home and property. You won’t have to park a car on top of snow that could potentially get deeper or walk through snow with difficulty. Instead, everything will be more open, so you can move about without being hindered by any snow that’s fallen.

How Driveway Snow Removal Keeps You Safe

While ensuring your driveway looks good and will last you a long time without damage is great, you should also keep in mind how snow removal is helpful for personal safety. You, your family, and visitors still need to move around after snow, so clearing the pavement helps avoid serious safety concerns.

Avoid Personal Injury

One of the most important reasons to remove snow from your pavement is because it lowers the risk of injuries. In Alberta, a 2016 study even found that, after falling on ice, there were 42.3 hospitalizations per 100,000 people. And the numbers haven’t changed much in the intervening years.

Removal upkeep will stop ice from forming, avoid another snow build-up, and make sure that your property is clear so no hazards are hidden from view. This lowers your risk of falling or tripping over something on your pavement.

Additionally, if you turn to a professional for your snow removal, you won’t have to worry about the potential for injuries sustained by removing snow. There is a higher risk of heart attacks when completing this work independently, so additional ways exist to protect yourself.

Ice Can’t Build Up

Lowering the possibility of any build-up is excellent for safety and avoiding property damage. So snow removal is the perfect way to keep your property ice-free for longer.

By eliminating most of the possibility for a freeze-thaw cycle, ice just won’t be able to build up the same way. This protects your property and the people needing to move around outside.

No Potential Legal Repercussions

Many cities, including Calgary, have bylaws requiring residents to remove some snow around their property. Some of these bylaws just mean removing snow from the sidewalks around their property, while others have more in-depth legal requirements for snow removal.

Clearing the snow will save you time and money and keep you from fines and other legal repercussions. Working with a professional service can be great because the experts understand the bylaws and know the best ways to get snow off your property to give you back your time and lower the cost in the long run.

Professionals Save Your Driveway & You the Hassle

Getting snow off your property in the winter isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Depending on your needs, you can DIY snow removal or turn to a professional service. Either way, you protect yourself and your driveway from serious injuries or damage. When you’re ready to take the stress and physical demands of snow removal off your shoulders, a professional service is a great option.

You won’t need to purchase expensive equipment you don’t use often or don’t have training for. Instead, you can look to the experts to clear your driveway quickly and efficiently the first time. We also get out to your home within 24 hours, and Green Drop packages include unlimited visits for the entire winter.

Learn more about snow removal today and set yourself up for winter success with one of our comprehensive packages.