Even though your vacation home may not be used regularly or at all during the winter season, you should still arrange for snow removal service. You will want your driveway plowed in case there is an emergency at your home and the police or fire need to respond. If a service person needs to access your home for furnace or plumbing problems, they will also need the snow removed.
Besides providing emergency access to your home, plowing or shoveling also makes your home look occupied. Services that watch your home should understand you might not want excessive plowing and offer to make footprints or tracks in the snow at your property after lighter snowfalls and only plow when accumulation would cause difficulty for emergency access to the home. It would be best for you to check your city ordinance for snow removal on sidewalks and driveways to determine when you want your plow driver to service your property. This is especially important if you are concerned about excessive plowing. You or the snow removal company should then agree to acceptable terms of snow removal in writing. Mark your landscaping and edges of your driveway with reflectors and/or flags to keep the plow driver from ruining your lawn and landscaping. It is hard for them to know where the edges are under all the snow.
If you or anyone else will be using a snow blower on your property, you need to know that not all snow blowers are the same. Some have soft rubber parts that run along the path, and others have hard metal pieces. If you need snow removed from pavers or other delicate areas, you will want to make sure that a snow blower with soft rubber parts is used versus the metal type.
Use a broom or soft plastic shovel on decks and porches or anywhere you do not want paint or stain to be chipped. Heavy metal shovels will scratch the surface. A broom is lighter and will not ruin your decks and porches. It is best to keep one broom dedicated to this area and leave it there. Keep up with removing this snow often since it is hard to clear large amounts of snow with a broom. A large push broom is best, but any broom will do.
Ice is another issue. It is best to have gutters, and if you do have them, make sure they are clean. They should be free of leaves and sticks. Icicles should be removed from overhangs on the roof. These can easily cause injury or death if they fall and land on you or anyone else at your home. You do not want that.
There are many noncorrosive products to melt ice on the market now. Use these on the walkways and the driveway to prevent injuries from slipping and falling. Use sand to provide traction. To be extra safe, buy some sand and ice melt product and apply both of these to icy spots.
Snow removal is not just for driveways and walkways! Many roofs and decks have collapsed due to the weight of heavy snow. This can be especially concerning in the spring, when wet and heavy snowfalls hit.
If your home is heated with propane or natural gas, the company delivering gas to the tank will most likely require you to keep a path cleared to this. Generally if there is not a path cleared, the company will leave and not refill the tank.
