300 ft driveway? Prince Charles, is that you?
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Need a snowblower....recommendations?
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
Doesn't seem unreasonable? mine is at least that long.
Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk
Wow thanks for the replies guys.
we considered getting a service but wife said no as they’re usually (in my experience) so busy that small driveways are the last on their list.
ill look into the options here and decide shortly. Maybe get my dad to pick one up as he’s around all the time.
Would love a heated driveway but how’s not the the time to tear apart the driveway and install heating. Possibly in the future.
we considered getting a service but wife said no as they’re usually (in my experience) so busy that small driveways are the last on their list.
ill look into the options here and decide shortly. Maybe get my dad to pick one up as he’s around all the time.
Would love a heated driveway but how’s not the the time to tear apart the driveway and install heating. Possibly in the future.
I recall your wife had a child recently(ish)? I was going to suggest going with a snowplow service, as I had really a good experience with a service that took care of a rural property I owned.
I imagine your wife's hands are full - if not a service, find some local teen looking to make some $?
The important thing is to find the right one. Our neighbourhood has two providers. Both approximately the same price. One puts a stake with some blue paint at the end of your driveway and comes with a tractor mounted snowblower everytime there is 5 cm. The other puts a fancy branded stake with their catchy name on it at the end of the driveway. They come sometimes, but not nearly as fast or as often. Without seeing the performance, new homeowners would be very likely to see the branded stakes and sign up with the crappy company.
Here, it's way more than 50%. Service is ~$600/yr. Once you subtract the cost of buying/maintaining/storing a snowblower and it's operating expenses it's not a bad deal. Include your time and the service is almost a no-brainer (assuming you don't park vehicles in your driveway as that really limits what they can clean out for you). That being said, I am trying to pay this house off, so I don't mind a little sweat equity to get another few hundred off the mortgage (and if I didn't have a blower, shovelling the path to the front door would take a while).
LoL I love using it also. Unfortunately I’m not there for 3 out of 4 weeks and snow is coming
I sent out some feelers to contractors I worked with before to see if they’re interested. If not then I’ll keep an eye out on who’s doing snow removal on the street and call them.
next project is going to be a doozy....electrical....
Talk to me, this is my area of expertise....
Roadghost
Well-known member
If she is petite you need a blower with steering. The MTD units are best in this case since they come with heated grips and they're quite lightweight, even in the bigger models. MTD uses a lot of plastic in their design, not the best quality but certainly practical at a lower price.
Second choice is the Briggs and Stratton. You can get the big Briggs with steering (pricey) or the one with no steering (she won't be able to use it, too difficult to steer, and bloody heavy). Forget single stage.
If you're in the GTA lower elevations you will only need the smaller models, 5-7hp. If you're further north get the 8-10hp models.
Second choice is the Briggs and Stratton. You can get the big Briggs with steering (pricey) or the one with no steering (she won't be able to use it, too difficult to steer, and bloody heavy). Forget single stage.
If you're in the GTA lower elevations you will only need the smaller models, 5-7hp. If you're further north get the 8-10hp models.
Why?
Noted that some outlets are not grounded, so looking at options of Arc Fault protection (breakers possibly but they're $90/each) and then beginning to look at options of slowly re-wiring the house. I don't want too much cutting in the walls so looking at how to do it with minimal disruption, and possibly going through the attic as that has access to each area/room.
Was it an ungrounded house at some point (eg. two-prong plugs) or has someone just really screwed it up?
I'm really not sure. Looks like the cables are fairly recent, the panel is upgraded within the last 10 years. House was built in 1958.
for un grounded devices, its always best to run proper wiring with ground conductor.
Although arc fault breakers do offer some GFCI protection, your best bet and cheaper option is to use GFI's to protect ungrounded circuits.
Simply identify in your panel which circuits are ungrounded, wire them into a GFCI receptacle (these are as little as $15 each) beside the breaker panel.
this gives you some what of a ground protection, but is better than nothing at all, its much cheaper, and is recognized and recommended wiring method by ESA and many insurance companies.
don't waste your money on arc fault breakers, unless you feel you need them for whatever reason. Curiously, the electrical code requires arc faults on some circuits in a new build, but not all. Silly, the other un protected circuits have no chance of Arc'ing and starting fires?
Roadghost
Well-known member
Because they're only good for light snow. Won't work on plough snow.
Trials
Well-known member
Start with buying one of these
test every outlet you can find in the house, that will quickly identify any problem circuits.
Wrong. Dont knock it if you haven't tried it. Obviously they have some limitations (frozen windrow or snow deeper that the paddle so 6 to 12"") but if you stay on top of it they can work well.
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