While winter holidays can be a magical time for getting together with friends and family, the weather isn’t always so inviting. Although snow can provide great fun for kids and adults alike, snow and ice can be a hazard on your driveway and walkway. Removing the snow from walkways and driveways, and sidewalks is necessary; but it’s also a backbreaking chore. If you’re ready to outsource snow removal to the pros, here’s why now is the time to start looking for a snow plowing company in Peekskill and Briarcliff Manor, NY.
Site Assessment to Protect Your Landscaping
The snow that falls on your property won’t typically damage your landscape on its own, except for extreme circumstances such as when heavy snow breaks tree limbs. In its undisturbed form, snow is relatively light and there are plenty of air pockets to allow plants to breathe a little. However, snow that is thrown or pushed onto the landscape becomes extremely dense and heavy, which can break delicate plantings and suffocate them.
It’s never a good idea to have your driveway plowed by a company who doesn’t know what our landscaping looks like or where you want the snow to be pushed. By the time your landscape is covered with a foot of snow, you realize it’s too much for you to shovel and you call a snow plowing company, you’ll have to contend with potential damage to the landscape. There’s no way for the plow operators to see what’s under the blanket of snow. No matter how much care you put into your landscaping, it could potentially be wiped out in a single plowing episode.
However, an early-season site visit is an opportunity to inspect the landscape and clearly mark any sensitive areas or desirable landscape features with orange markers that the plow operators can see even during a blizzard. Then, they can be sure to avoid those areas and push snow onto less sensitive areas of your property.
During this visit, you can also instruct the snow plowing company in your preferences. For example, if you have a paver driveway that could be damaged by low plow blades, you could request that they use blade protectors or simply keep their plows an inch higher than normal to avoid scraping the paver surface.
Proper Use of Deicing Chemicals
Sometimes, proper snow and ice removal is only possible with the help of some deicing chemicals. These chemicals can be toxic to plants in high concentrations, but will have little effect in the right amounts. A snow removal company will have trained all of their employees on how to safely use these chemicals for snow and ice removal to prevent damage to your lawn, plantings, or hardscape surfaces.
Most Importantly: Schedules Are Booking Fast
Make sure to contact your local snow removal professionals as soon as possible, since they only have a limited capacity and schedule during the winter. Each time it snows, they plan a route to serve every customer they can as quickly as possible. However, plowing companies will prioritize serving customers who have a plowing contract, which means if you call last minute, you can expect to be put on the end of the list and may endure hours or even days of being snowed in. It’s exceptionally rare that a snow plowing company will be able to accommodate you as a priority customer if their schedule is already booked.
Related: HOW SNOW PLOWING IMPROVES THE SAFETY OF YOUR BRIARCLIFF MANOR, NY, PROPERTY