How to shovel your driveway
I know it sounds strange, but I see a lot of people in my neighborhood who put way to much effort into shoveling their driveway (this doesn’t count those who have snow blowers, which I think is a cop-out for those who are young and fit enought to shovel). These shovelers spend way too much time picking up and carrying snow to the side of the driveway. Or they try to heave it all from the center of the driveway. Or they get a shoveful, bend over and pick it up and then carry it over to the side to be dumped. All of these methods, undoubtedly lead to sore or injured backs.
So, you may ask, what makes you such a self-proclaimed expert in shoveling? First, I live north of Syracuse. We get a lot of snow. And I mean a lot. The record for the city is 192″. Three or so years ago we had 191 inches and some change (didn’t beat the record, though) and I shoveled pretty much ever last inch of that in my two car wide, four car deep driveway. Second, I am a computer geek. I am paid to think about how to do things efficiently, and I apply it to many things in my life. Third, I relish shoveling. I think it is great exercise, when done right.
The first thing people do wrong is they use a straight handle shovel. These are a recipe for disaster. Get yourself a bent handle snow shovel
The second big mistake is they try to throw the snow from wherever they are. So, if they have a full shovel and they are in the middle of the driveway, they throw the snow to the side.
So, here is my algorithm:
- Bisect the driveway lengthwise by pushing the snow straight ahead of you down to the end of the driveway. This should leave a single stripe down the middle of your driveway
- Clear out any plow droppings at the end of the driveway
- Working your way back up one side of the bisected driveway, take your shovel in one hand, and push the snow to the side of the driveway as far as you can.
- Take a step up the driveway, and repeat the last step
- Repeat the previous two steps until you get to the top of the driveway
- Now, go back down the same side of the driveway that you just came up. Scoop one shoveful of snow off into your pile. If you don’t have too much snow, you can do this in a nice, low to the ground, efficient scoop which doesn’t require you to bend over at all. If you have a large snow bank, you may have to lift it up higher. Make sure you bend at the knees.
- Take a step or two back down the driveway and repeat the last step, scooping the snow onto the grass
- When you get to the bottom, depending on how much snow you have, you may need to turn around and go back up. Take a break at the top and bottom of the driveway if you need it
- Repeat this for the other side of the driveway.
With this method, you can have a driveway of my size clear of anywhere from 1″ to 6″ in about 15 minutes if you work methodically and are in decent shape. If you have a real heavy snowfall or a real wet snowfall, you will need to take more time. Also, with heavy snowfalls, you may need to also bisect the bisection, so as to create a “snow break”, which will make it easier to push the snow to the side.
Happy Shoveling!
February 17th, 2007 at 7:47 am
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December 22nd, 2007 at 10:58 am
From one programmer to another, thanks for the tips! I had to modify your algorithm for deeper snow, and an oddly shaped driveway, but my back especially thanks you!
December 26th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Please do share! For deeper snow, I would sometimes “quarter” the driveway (think of it like a “fire break” where smoke jumpers chop down a bunch of trees to create a gap that a forest fire can’t cross for lack of snow).
The key of course, is never throw the snow any further than you have to.
Of course, the real solution I found was to move south!
December 21st, 2008 at 7:50 pm
ur method is great but for some reason i just prefer straight shovels over bent ones
January 13th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Thanks for the tip! I have been doing most of the things on your list ever since we got a house. I just need suggestions how to clear out plow droppings at the end of the driveway. I make it a point to shovel my driveway as clean as possible but as soon as the plow comes by, it leaves a pile at the end of my driveway much thicker than what I shoveled on my driveway alone. If I don’t clear it out on time, I just end up dragging all that snow back in my driveway… not to mention getting stuck on that pile while getting in or out my driveway. I would really appreciate more tips on how to do this efficiently. Thanks you.
January 20th, 2009 at 9:51 am
[...] Forgotten how to shovel your driveway or need a better way of doing it without breaking your back? Read how here! [...]
January 27th, 2009 at 9:59 am
thanks for the tips. me and 2 friends are going out to shovel for donations to something called speed the light, and i think if we use your method, 3 guys could knock out a driveway in no time
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Owning/running a b&b (www.streams-and-dreams.net) in Maryland’s ‘Little Arctic’ (aka westernmost Garrett County) since ’97, and having experienced up to 252″ of snowfall per year, of necessity I generally use a tractor-mounted snow blower to clear two long driveways and associated walks. But the machine’s on the fritz this winter, so I’m doing it the old fashioned way, solo, with shovels. It can be an endless task, thus I’m highly motivated to expend the least time and energy possible. As a former mathematical and ecological simulation modeler just turned 50, my by-hand methods quickly evolved precisely into your algorithm.
Your text description is sufficiently clear, but either a series of simple diagrams or (better yet) a video of the process replayed in fast-forward would be well worth the 1K words.
Like Tom I find a long, straight handled shovel serves me best, although I also have an ergo-handled one. Somehow that crook seems to work against efficiently shoving heavier loads, although its certainly better for lifting.
The leg muscles are the largest and most powerful we humans have, so I concur completely with the notion of shoving a measured load along the drive’s surface, minimizing to the extent possible all lifting, carrying, and tossing of white stuff.
Of course whenever possible a series of light clearings during a snowfall is more manageable than a single massive one afterwards. With heavier and/or wetter overnight accumulations, if one starts a shove at the center one will run out of steam long before reaching the edge. Then I find that clearing my initial length-wise ‘stripe’ not at the drive’s center, but rather parallel to and a variable distance from the drive’s edge is best. The variable distance is selected so as to not exceed a comfortable lift/toss of the side-ward bound loads when shoving perpendicular to and towards that edge. Under these conditions I’ll be essentially clearing the drive from the edges first, and on the next pass there is nothing (barring cracks or other irregularities!)to break the momentum of each shove. The net result is to clear back to the driveway’s center. Your mileage may vary, of course.
The love-hate relationships with the county’s snow plow operator, the mail carrier, and the recipient of each one’s regular deliveries is a problematic menage-a-trois (sp?) at best – especially when daytime partial thaws are coupled with nighttime re-freezes. Yesterday I installed a long 4×4″ extension of the horizontal member of the mailbox post, counter-weighted for balance, and freely pivoting on the original vertical post. It reaches the cleared portion of the roadway only when it needs to, and afterwards retreats back out of harm’s way. While this requires regularly tending, hopefully I won’t be spend the entire winter hacking away at an ever-growing, crushed-stone fortified ice dam.
January 8th, 2010 at 11:06 am
[...] Grant breaks it out in clear steps, telling us how to minimize our labor. 1. Bisect the driveway [...]
January 8th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
[...] How do I know it’s winter? Besides, the cold temps, that is? The number one search on my blog right now is my algorithm for: How to shovel your driveway. [...]
January 17th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
[...] timely tip comes from Grant’s Grunts blog. Here are the [...]