Heavy snowfall is more than just a headache for commercial property owners and managers; it’s a serious threat to how your business runs and the condition of your property. At DMC SNOW, we know a big winter storm can quickly put a stop to operations and even damage your buildings and pavement.
A few inches of snow is one thing, but a major snow event requires a professional plan. Here’s a closer look at the key ways heavy snow impacts commercial sites and why planning is so important. We can help your business lot stay clear with snow plowing in Northampton.
1. The Weight Problem: Roofs and Structures
The biggest worry with heavy snow is the huge weight load it places on your buildings, especially the large, flat roofs you see on most warehouses, shopping centers, and office buildings.
- Snow Gets Heavy Fast: Light, fluffy snow doesn’t weigh much, but when it gets wet, compressed by wind, or turns icy, it packs on the pounds. One foot of heavy, wet snow can weigh 20 pounds or more per cubic foot.
- Structural Strain: Spread across a massive commercial roof, that kind of weight can quickly push the structure past its limits. This causes stress, sagging, and in the worst cases, can lead to a catastrophic collapse.
- Ice Dams: When snow melts and then refreezes near the cold edges of a roof, it forms ice dams. These dams stop water from draining off the roof, forcing the meltwater to back up under the shingles or membrane. This often leads to major water damage inside your property, damaging walls, insulation, and ceilings.
The only real solution is proactive snow removal, including targeted roof snow removal for vulnerable spots, to relieve that structural stress before it’s too late.
2. Shutting Down Operations and Access
The most immediate impact of heavy snow is the operational chaos it causes. If people and products can’t move, your business stops.
- Parking Lot Issues: Deep, unplowed snow makes parking lots useless. Customers can’t park, and employees struggle to get to work. When cars drive over deep snow, they quickly pack it down into hard pack snow, which is incredibly difficult to clear later without a lot of deicing material.
- Supply Chain Blocked: For any business that relies on shipping, snow around loading docks, truck bays, and service roads can instantly halt all deliveries and pickups. This directly hurts your bottom line and causes supply chain delays.
- Walkways Disappear: Entrance paths, sidewalks, and emergency exits disappear under the snow. Even after an initial pass, heavy wind and continuous snowfall mean crews have to work in continuous cycles to keep those pedestrian areas clear and passable.
Keeping your core business running during a storm requires timely, repeated plowing and deicing services to keep all critical paths open with professional snow and ice management in Bucks County.
3. Damaging Your Pavement and Grounds
Heavy snow doesn’t just damage the roof; it also hurts your exterior property elements over time.
- Pothole Factory (Freeze-Thaw): Water gets into tiny cracks in your asphalt or concrete during the day. When the temperature drops below freezing at night, that water expands as ice, forcing the cracks to open wider. Heavy snow keeps the pavement wet for longer, speeding up this damaging freeze-thaw cycle and creating more potholes.
- Hidden Obstacles: Deep snow covers up curbs, speed bumps, and landscape borders. When plows are working fast to keep up, these hidden obstacles increase the risk of damage to your pavement and site fixtures.
- Overwhelmed Drainage: When a large volume of heavy snow finally melts, it creates a massive rush of water. This can easily overwhelm storm drains and sewer systems, causing flooding in your parking lots and any low-lying areas.
A well-executed snow management plan documents your property layout and uses best practices to minimize damage during the clearing process.
4. Avoiding Wasted Time and Extra Costs
Trying to handle a major snowstorm without a plan almost always ends up being more expensive and less effective.
- High Emergency Rates: If you call a snow company after the storm has already piled up and blocked your property, you’ll pay premium, emergency rates, and you’ll be low priority. Clients with pre-arranged contracts get guaranteed, priority service.
- Too Much Salt: If plows can’t get to the pavement because the snow is too deep and packed, you have to use a huge amount of deicing materials just to melt the mess they left behind. This dramatically drives up your material costs.
- Lost Business: If your property is closed or running on empty for even half a day because of uncleared snow, the revenue you lose will be far greater than the cost of having professionals managing the storm from the start.
At DMC SNOW, we use specialized equipment and pre-treatments (anti-icing) to boost our plowing efficiency. Our goal is to provide proactive service that minimizes your business downtime and controls your total operational spending. Contact us today!
