# Sidewalk clearing question "AGAIN"



## Doin_It (Jul 22, 2008)

I know I know....use the "search function".....I have. Some post's say 1 person can clear 1000' feet of 3' wide sidewalk/hour on a 2" snowfall. Another says 4100' in 1.5 to 3 hours (big spread in time there). Another says join SIMA to find out.....I'm just wondering how many feet per hour a person can clear on average using a snow shovel, 1" to 2"s, Trying to bid 3300', no mechanical possible due to steps, root damage/lifting on walks etc. Thanks.


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## jhall22guitar (Dec 11, 2011)

How many sets of stairs are there in the sidewalk? I can see up to 1500ft of 3ft wide sidewalk in an hour, but it depends on the person and what shovel they are using.

Stairs can throw a curveball into this depending on how many there are. I hate clearing big sets of stairs.


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## House2Home (Feb 15, 2014)

Doin_It;1765683 said:


> I know I know....use the "search function".....I have. Some post's say 1 person can clear 1000' feet of 3' wide sidewalk/hour on a 2" snowfall. Another says 4100' in 1.5 to 3 hours (big spread in time there). Another says join SIMA to find out.....I'm just wondering how many feet per hour a person can clear on average using a snow shovel, 1" to 2"s, Trying to bid 3300', no mechanical possible due to steps, root damage/lifting on walks etc. Thanks.


I'd say save your back and let someone else do it! Shoveling sucks!


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## Meezer (Apr 3, 2010)

Doin_It;1765683 said:


> , Trying to bid 3300', no mechanical possible due to steps, root damage/lifting on walks etc. Thanks.


I would use a single stage snow blower & a shovel for something like that.


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## Doin_It (Jul 22, 2008)

Thanks for the answers so far. I screwed up on my measurements, as I had missed a whole section on the map they gave me on the other side of the street, my goodness, they would've loved that bid. They would've thought they went to Walmart heaven.

What I've got to bid on is 165 townhouse property. Presently we cut 70 commercial properties in the summer and plow 7 large commercial in the winter, approx. 16 acres of parking/yard and just over 400' of sidewalk. Only 9 steps to do, so as you see we're not up on sidewalks, etc.

This place has 8600' more or less of walks,(1.6 miles). Almost all have a 3 step landing to the door. Quite a few have 10 to 15 feet of walk then 2 steps down, bit more walk then a step down. A real mess. I went and had a look again, a bunch can be swept, so will have to find something that'll work. I'm thinking perhaps a JD X739 4x4 with a sweeper.

So any help on sidewalk shoveling would be appreciated. 

Thanks again.


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

it takes longer if the wind chill is 20 below than on a sunny day at 25....just things to consider....big factor is the people doing it!....


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## Doin_It (Jul 22, 2008)

I hear ya, the cold shuts everyone down a bit.......


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## jhall22guitar (Dec 11, 2011)

Whats your average snowfall? If the sidewalks aren't to bad a good one stage blower can work great. A site I worked on had brick sidewalks around the entire back of the storm that would take an hour to shovel. There were no steps, but a lot of bricks sticking up in places that slowed you down, but once you learned where they were after hitting them with the one stage blower a couple times you learned to pick the front up just enough in those areas, then could come back with a shovel later and get any excess, or hit it with ice melt. Plus a one stage isn't bar for a person to bring up/down stairs, get all the flat parts first then go back to stairs, will save a lot of time.


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## Doin_It (Jul 22, 2008)

We average about 25 to 30 snow falls a season, of those 10 to 12 will be an inch or 2 the rest less. Odd time, we'll get more then the 2 or 3.


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## jhall22guitar (Dec 11, 2011)

Then it sounds like the perfect job for one of those "The Snowplow" shovels. Never tried one but it sounds like it would work great for such small snowfall amounts!


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## Snow tracker (Jan 31, 2014)

My guys always have a backpack blower along as well. Works on the light and fluffy stuff. Also does a great job cleaning what a shovel leaves behind. Another thing to remember is it will take lots longer when the banks get high later in the winter


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## jhall22guitar (Dec 11, 2011)

Snow tracker;1775377 said:


> My guys always have a backpack blower along as well. Works on the light and fluffy stuff. Also does a great job cleaning what a shovel leaves behind. Another thing to remember is it will take lots longer when the banks get high later in the winter


I forgot about backpack blowers, used mine a couple times this year with some of the fluff, best part is that its right to bare cement.

What about one of the ECHO handheld power broom attachments they have.


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## sven1277 (Jan 15, 2008)

I tried the power broom once with an inch of fluffy. The snow rolls over the broom so it doesn't work well


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## DodgeBlizzard (Nov 7, 2003)

1.6 miles and shoveling should never be in the same sentence.


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

how wide are they?...where does the snow have to go?,....figures into the equation....may be 1.6 mi, but that's only if you walk in 1 direction,...it may be 3 or 4 when shoveling depending on backtracking,..if 2 people can work together well(that's the key), one on a shovel and 1 on a machine, 3rd person for salt


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