Keeping a Happy Home Throughout the Snowy Months
Winter can seem daunting, but keeping up with snow maintenance around your home can help keep things during this season easy (so you have more time to enjoy hot cocoa!)
Adjusting your home
- Ensure eavestroughs are pointing away from your home and are clear of debris. Doing so will ensure that your home maintains good ventilation, does not flood, and prevents build up and ice.
- Ice can build up on the sidewalks due to frequent freeze/thaw cycles, managing the ice on your sidewalks is important and can be maintained with de-icing so keep de icer on hand
- Not piling snow against your home means water will be less likely to pool against your foundation walls.
Snow clearing:
- If a lot of snow is expected, shovel more frequently than you normally would. Letting more than 6” accumulate will increase the amount you will be left with as more snow falls.
- To avoid back pain from shoveling deep snow, shovel in layers.
- Putting stakes around the edges of your walkways and driveway to indicate where your lawn begins. This can help you avoid damaging your grass and plants while shoveling.
- Clear snow by shoveling it away from your home and storm drains, window wells, and exhaust vents.
- Find more information on who is responsible for snow clearing in our past blog about snow removal here
Storm drains
- Keep storm drains clear of snow to avoid freezing and allow for draining when the warm weather returns
- Storm drains may have water pool in them, if this happens, wait 90 minutes before calling the city about them as they are meant to drain slowly so as to not overflow the stormwater system
- If you see a storm drain that is iced over, do not attempt to chisel it away to avoid injury, you can reach out to your municipality and they will remove it.
- Find more information in our past blog about storm ponds here
Are you in need of snow clearing help? Or want to help your neighbours? Register here
Want to learn more about who is responsible for snow clearing in your Community? Find out more in our past blog about snow removal here