Would you pay for snow shoveling?

[old goat]

AKbruin what's up with that roof pitch? It doesn't seem nearly steep enough for the amount of snow your area can get.

I'm anxious as hell to see what winter brings this year now that I own a cabin in an area that averages 400" of snow. But at least I've got an arsenal of quality shovels, a few bags of rock salt for the inevitable freezing rain events and a means of accessing the roof to break-loose any snow that doesn't slide-off (and the roof itself is steeply pitched). I probably should invest in a roof rake but I want to see how the snow sluffs off before spending the money on that.

We're rated for 400psf snow load and our roof is about that flat. But it's 4x12's 24in OC. We did shovel it once but we probably didn't need to, since the cheap aluminum sliding windows weren't sticking. When we got done we could walk off the second story roof onto the snow pile.

I do hand shovel my deck so I can see out. I used to shovel it more--it's 4x8s 24in OC up to 17 feet long, some of which are supported at the house end only by pocket holes in the T111 (!) so I figured I needed to. Then I hung a weight 1/4 above the ground under the deck and planned to shovel if the weight touched the ground but it never did.

We put in a tankless water heater in the back of the house and code required the top of the direct vents to be 12 feet above the ground to clear the snow. Hard to imagine the snow ever being that deep but they claim the snow was 20 ft deep for the Donner Party, which is where I live, so maybe. (I've always been skeptical of that figure. They based it on the stumps being as high as 20 ft, but if I had an unlimited supply of trees and was cutting with hand tools I'd be cutting them at chest level, not at the top of the snow, so knock 4 ft off that figure.)

One year I had a legitimate 3 foot cornice overhanging my driveway. I left it there until it melted, for scenic value.

[AKbruin]

Do many of you guys keep them outside under a cover or tarp?

I used to keep mine in my garage, but it became easier to keep it outside under a portal. Despite my attempts to clean it off, a lot of Sierra cement inevitably sticks to the rotors and shoot-tube which leaves annoying puddles in the garage.

Ullr golf SMITE.

Fair enough. But they've only be used three times in the last twenty years.

do what all those fancy mcmansion folks do out west and get a heated driveway. problem solved. may take longer, but less work. then again, most of those places are on hill, so theres that.

Those things are expensive and don't have a great track record where I live. Sounds great in theory though. I do, however, wish my driveway were south and not north facing. That would make my life a bit easier.

[hutash]

It all depends...I actually enjoy shoveling and blowing snow, but I live at the beach, so I don't "have" to do it all winter long. I have a friend with a place in Mammoth I visit regularly, and part of staying there for next to nothing is to help keep the driveway clear. I never miss a pow day, and will blow it after skiing if I don't feel like getting out early to do it.

That said, there have been winters when nobody has been at the house for awhile, and as typical for Mammoth yards of cement can fall in a short period of time. Those days I would gladly pay someone to move.

If I live in Mammoth, mostly likely I would pay to have it removed. I think it would suck to have to get up two hours early to shovel snow just to go to work.

[Bunion 2020]

do what all those fancy mcmansion folks do out west and get a heated driveway. problem solved. may take longer, but less work. then again, most of those places are on hill, so theres that.

I see a lot of those in cold and snowy Montana Mcmansions built at 9K'.

They work great and there is never any snow to shovel from the heated surface.

However the heating bills and the questionable use of energy is staggering.

[grskier]

I have the money.

I just want to put it where I want it and am kind of particular.
I've always had a garage or a barn to keep blower in.
This year I moved to a smaller place and the 30" blower is kind of killing my garage space.
Do many of you guys keep them outside under a cover or tarp?

8000ft @250".

I'll take the 30" blower off your hands if you need.

[old goat]

Our snow removal guy is a prince. Does a great job, plows past the end of the contract if it snows a lot in April, hits the berms a couple times a day if needed, even though the contract is for once a day. Our first snow plow guy fired us for opposing a development in a wetland he was supposed to grade and offered to pay our current guy not to plow us but he refused the offer. He plows out old people in the neighborhood for free if they can't afford him. During the drought years he plowed when there wasn't enough snow to bother with--I think he was bored. We helped him in a very minor way deal with code enforcement over some bullshit and he sealed our driveway for free 2 years in a row. He knows I ski most mornings so he almost always hits our house early enough. (Not a lot of local working people in my neighborhood).

[TahoeJ]

Old goat please pm the name of your first plow guy so I can tell people to avoid that asshole. Have several friends with homes in your hood.