I am not a fan of cold and snow.
I don’t enjoy skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling or sledding. When the temperature in my local area drops below freezing, I spend as little time outdoors as possible. Living in Elgin, Illinois, means that I am trapped indoors for the majority of the year. When I initially bought my house, I was forced outside multiple times per day to shovel snow. I devoted hours to clearing the walkways and driveways in the morning before work and again when I arrived home. To protect against the dangerous wind chill, it was necessary to bundle up in layers of sweaters, wool coat, hat, scarf, gloves and heavy boots. Shoveling is very labor-intensive and tiring. I would end up sweaty, sore and exhausted. There was also problems with where to put all that snow. Because my house is equipped with a boiler heating system, I had the option to install a snow melt system. Inside the house, the boiler sends hot water through a series of pipes hidden under the floors and inside the walls. Heat radiates from these pipes to warm up the various rooms. The outdoor system is very similar. A network of pipes is concealed under the cement of the walkways and driveway. The snowmelt system automatically reacts to the combination of temperature drop and moisture and starts up. Heat spreads across the pavement to effectively melt away snow and ice. I no longer need to shovel. There are no huge mounds of snow to deal with. There are no worries ove slipping, sliding and possibly getting hurt falling on the ice.