Garrelli 5000 said:
My driveway faces N/slightly NW. My neighbors house blocks most of the afternoon sun from hitting it.
Currently there is 5" packed ice on the other side of the garage door behind my wife's car (swing drive and she's in the corner). Only 2 behind my truck but I have the sharpest angle to turn into the drive.
All of that with a pretty decent drop down to the street.
No idea how long it'll take this to melt off. When it snows I get out there w/the snow shovel while its still coming down to prevent accumulation, but this solid ice is a different ballgame.
Next time I may just suck it up and park my truck in the middle of the drive facing the street before a storm hits. No point keeping it in the garage with the risk you take coming and going.
I have a suggestion. Depends on how desperate you are. But I've done this at my parents house they have a long steep drive that is hard to navigate and impossible in ice.
If you have a long hose that is not frozen (or bring it in the house to thaw) you can attach it to your hot water heater release valve and use that to melt an entire driveway easy. If most of it runs off and the rest evaporates while temps are above freezing you can clear it. At the very least you can reduce it greatly. Best if it all has somewhere to run off to though otherwise you just form a pool at the bottom which refreezes.
Just a thought. I'm not a professional but I sometimes solve **** in unconventional ways.
Case in point... back in 2021 during the storm I had one water line freeze overnight on an exterior kitchen wall. I could not get it to thaw with space heater under the sink or any other way. So I took my outdoor fire pit, leaned it up against the house at an angle and heated the exterior bricks up until the line cleared. Took about 45 minutes but it worked. My wife was convinced it would either blow up or catch the house on fire (the kitchen bay window above it for example).
