Unique Techniques to Remove Snow and Ice
During the winter, snow removal in Coralville, Iowa can be a significant difficulty. The high-volume of snowfall makes this area one that requires you to move large amounts of snow almost daily during certain parts of the year. Thankfully, you can utilize the following DIY techniques to manage your snow. These items typically use tools and ingredients that you can easily find in your home.
Tip One: Using Rubbing Alcohol
Dealing with ice every morning when you go to your car is one of the most annoying aspects of snow removal. Whether you’re trying to get it off of a window or even off of a sidewalk or a home, you need a solution that can help break it apart quickly and easily. One of the best of these is rubbing alcohol. This item can provide you with the ability to break apart ice promptly and efficiently.
Start this trick by pouring rubbing alcohol into a spritzer and adding a little water to add a bit more volume. Try to mix at a 2-1 ratio for alcohol and water to get a useful solution. You may want to add more alcohol if the mixture doesn’t produce the desired effect. The choice is yours, but make sure that you understand the potential problems that this alcohol may have if you get it on your vehicle or home.
Once you have created this mixture, you can spritz it on windows and rub them down with an old dry towel. This step should eliminate the ice very quickly and produce a neat after effect – a streak-free shine. And in your car, this will also help to prevent fogging that may occur as you drive. The benefits here are significant, so make sure you keep them in mind when trying this option.
Tip Two: Warm Water Helps
If your driveway, sidewalk, windshield, or windows are coated in ice, you can try pouring a little warm water over the area to help break apart the ice more easily. Warm up the water in a microwave or a stove to the point where it’s close to boiling. The water should never boil, though, as hot water may cause rapid expansion on the icy areas that cause damage to them and other types of issues.
After the water is near boiling, let it cool down until it is comfortably warm for your hand. Now, you can pour this water directly on the icy areas and spread the liquid evenly either with a spritzer or a squeegee. A squeegee is also an excellent way to wipe up excess water that may be lingering after you treat this area. This water would otherwise freeze if you didn’t wipe it up and cause many common issues.
This step is also a good one for snow removal, but make sure that you pay attention to the chance of ice developing after you pour the water. After all, the snow will melt into water and potentially leave behind a water residue. Wipe this water up with paper towels or another squeegee to ensure that you don’t end up with another coat of ice even after you’ve finished with this process.
Tip Three: Use a Leaf Blower to Manage Snow
Another smart way to manage snow removal without a lot of excess work is to utilize a leaf blower when the snow is slightly loose. This step is one that can be surprising to consider because you may only think of your leaf blower as a fall or even a spring tool. However, the power of this machine is often high enough that you can move a large volume of snow in rapid time.
For example, you can eliminate fresh-fallen snow from your steps in the morning so that you can go to work safely and your kids can take off to school. The power of the leaf blower will quickly eliminate the snow and even provide a warming benefit that may get rid of ice. The only downside of this tool is that you may not have the kind of high-accuracy that you want when using a normal snowblower.
You won’t have the same high-volume moving capacity that you would have with a snow moving machine. However, for smaller areas where you can’t use this machine – including your sidewalk and specific regions of your driveway – a leaf blower is a great tool. So make sure you keep it somewhere that is easy to find to ensure that you can get rid of a majority of the snow around your home.
Tip Four: Melt Snow with Cat Litter
Lastly, you can utilize cat litter to produce an interesting effect on your ice and snow. Simply put, cat litter is one of the most effective and least expensive ways to handle snow removal on your own. Just as importantly, anybody can handle this process on their own. All you have to do is have a little extra cat litter that you can place on snowy and icy areas to produce a higher melting effect.
Start this process by spreading cat litter on any areas of your driveway or home that may have nasty ice and snow buildups. The cat litter will wear through the surface of the ice by collecting heat and amplifying it into the ice. As a result, the ice will either start completely melting or become more natural to break apart with a shovel or other tools. This step is particularly useful for those who don’t mind a little labor.
If you don’t have a cat but do have a source of sand, birdseed, or wood ashes, you can also use these items to achieve the same effect. The last two are particularly helpful in this situation. For example, you may have leftover birdseed from the spring and summer that you can use to destroy ice and snow. And wood ashes may be useful for anyone who owns a wood stove or even a fireplace.
Find Professional Help
If your DIY snow removal in Coralville, Iowa is too hard for you to handle even with these simple hacks, please contact us at Fix Fabrication & Landscaping right away to learn more about this process. Our professionals fully understand how to remove snow from your pavement and will help you get the tools that you need to manage this problem quickly and efficiently without stressing yourself out.
