I have plenty of boots & shovels. 😂 Again, it’s not a matter of “luxury”…I am concerned about both personal health & the snow being gone in a timely fashion after a snowfall.

Men who shovel snow are at an increased risk for heart attacks. And that’s just heart trouble; let’s not forget general sprains, strains, & aches. Possible slip-and-falls, I can’t imagine having a bad fall when I’m in my 70s, 80s+.We often see a few significant snow events per year, and to have a surefire way to automatically melt it would be great.

To be fully transparent about my situation…I have a big-ass tractor, too. I can clear the snow without physical exertion. But it’s over at another property, and after a fresh snowfall, I sometimes have to “schedule” time with the tractor jockeying against my parents & my sister, BIL. Annoying.

…but that’s not all, with the tractor method. Extremely, dangerously cold situations can even become too cold for tractors to operate. The diesel will gel unless more questionable additives, methods are used. Operating a tractor is not free, either, and puts more hours on an expensive piece of machinery. There have also been maybe 4 times where I’m clearing the snow, and some kid is on the road in his $2K car, and gets way too close to my $90K tractor when we’re all slogging in terrible, soggy/cold/poor visibility conditions. I’m always polite, of course, but then they leave & I audibly bellow to myself I don’t fucking need this. I don’t!! Why should I haggle with family, operate this good equipment, around the general public if I could avoid that entirely with a heated concrete driveway?

So the only real concern with the square-cube law is physical space occupied, and/or cost. Space isn’t an issue on the farm. 🤠 And sand by the ton is cheap. I was personally thinking about digging a big-ass hole to hold the sand. Line it with junk bricks and/or more concrete, only put money into an insulated “cap”.

The water left on the driveway is an interesting thought, but the driveway won’t be perfectly flat. It’ll have a downward slant, towards the road. If you think it’s enough of an issue, I could maybe put some designs in the concrete that route snow melt run-off off the concrete & into some grass on either side. I know people that heat driveways & they’re fine/dry; it can be done, I’ll ask around. I know it’s marketed as a luxury, but I want heated driveways normalized.

I DO need a lot of heat for this heated driveway, I know it’s ambitious, but I have plenty of reasons for wanting it. Outlined above. Heart attacks/hospital visits? Expensive, waste of time. Tractors, “sharing” operation costs, risk of accidents…expensive. Waste of time. I’m going to pay any way you look at it. Why not pay for a recirculating heat pump, its operation & watch my problems literally melt away??