Maintaining your driveway through the colder months
Posted on 16th September 2024 at 15:32
Summer has almost become a distant memory. We are back to waiting for pumpkin spice, cinnamon treats, and Brussels sprouts. In the summer, your driveway was pretty low maintenance. You might have had to clear up the leftovers of a few barbecues and water fights, but overall, it wasn’t a problem.
Now we are heading into the winter months, the weather might not be quite as kind to your driveway as you would like. Of course, with Jack Frost nipping at your nose, you are less likely to want to spend time outside. So, what basic maintenance tasks should you do to keep your driveway looking good through the colder months?
Autumn Maintenance
• Clear leaves: That hedgerow that the Jones’ have been letting flourish or that tree growing in their garden is now likely to be shedding. As the weather gets cold, those leaves and bits of organic debris make the driveway slippery and unsafe. Not only that, if they are not cleaned up, it could promote mildew to grow on your drive.
• Check for cracks: The thing about the weather getting warmer and colder is that materials expand, and cracks appear. If you don’t repair them, these cracks will get worse before the warm weather comes around again. It’s best to repair them whilst the problem is only small. It will be much more expensive further down the road.
Winter maintenance
• Remove snow and ice promptly: Freezing snow and ice will contribute to the cracking of your driveway. Not only that, if your drive leads out to a road, you might find you slipping on the ice and your car careens into traffic. Keep ice and snow off of your drive.
• Be careful with de-icing products: You might be the sort of person who doesn’t have time in the morning to let your car defrost. Whilst de-icing products are entirely necessary to make sure your car is safe, they can actually damage your driveway. Make sure that you are careful with their application and clean any de-icer off the drive as soon as possible.
If unsure ask for help
We get it. You are not a builder, you have other awesome skills in other awesome industries, and sealing up drives and checking for wear and tear isn’t something that you are do very well. That’s OK, because you can ask a local builder to come and have a look and they can advise you on what is best to do during the colder months.
For more information on maintaining your drive, call us on 01604 380 930, or email info@srgillbuilders.co.uk with your enquiry.
Share this post: