We have a steep North facing driveway and are trying to fix the problem without just moving to another home. Some days it is pure ice and very slippery. Already have 4wheel drive. I have put down over 100# of salt in a couple of storms. We have tried to look at various options. Tear off garage and lower it one level (Wow, expense). Went to the city and tried the variance route by building a new garage in front and lower. No go from the city. We are using spiked shoes and the neighbor fell on their drive last winter resulting in broken wrist. The neighbors are awesome and the whole area is great, we would prefer not to move.

Our last option is to heat the driveway when it is dangerous. The problem here is that we are having a difficult time finding contractors that work with these systems in the North metro. I have talked to quite a few heating and cooling contractors but have not found any that really seem to know the best way to heat the driveway. My own research has shown that hydronic is more costly up front but gives more options on heat source down the road if needed. It is less costly than electric resistance heating over the long run.

Does anyone here do this type of work, or know anyone in the area?

Thanks Everyone,

James

Look up geothermal contractors. They are familiar with the HDPE tubing and layout of the loops.

Indoor ice rinks are done the same way.

Randy

That is a nice way too do it. We wish we would of done the apron on the shop , but it would of been on it's own zone for when it was not needed. We have a wood boiler and ended up running 9 zones in a 40 x 80 pole building by lester. We laid out all the zones in 8 inches of concrete and secured it to the rebar with zip ties. So far we have had to replace a pump 2 times. Had a electric water heater as a back up to maintain the core temp on a boiler failure. Knock on wood there has not been a lick of problems with for the past 11 years. All we needed was a cement guy to work it and finish the top off for a nice floor. A warm floor too work on the sledds in the dead of winter...................priceless LOL.....! I hope ya find someone , we did it awhile ago and I'm sure ways of doing it have changed for the better. But I think if you have some idea on the layout you can tackle it your self and job out the cement work. ( well maybe.....we were able too do this ourselves too a certain point )....... later....

I have the cement guy lined up and actually had a bid from our heating guy on the radiant. We have geothermal heat in the house. The bid was crazy high. I feel pretty comfortable laying the tubing but I want to make sure the system is sized correctly and hose spaced. I was wondering if anyone has had much experience with snowmelt. The heating guys were not able to answer some crucial questions.I.E. How much ice will there be at the bottom? Do we need special drainage for the water that does flow off the pad?

yes you would have to create some kind of drainage or you will have a big frozen lake at the bottom. If it goes off to the sides you will not have to worry about wash out because the ground will be frozen. Normal heating zones are not more than 300' long and spaced 12" apart. 1/2" pipe is all you need. I would run it off your geo.

We wanted to run the system off the Geo but we do not have the capacity. We have five tons of vertical loop capacity which can take care of the house heating and cooling which is less then 80,000 btu. The driveway and garage need about 288,000 btu of capacity. It would cost a ton of money to expand the geo by that much.

Thank You for the input on the ice. That does make sense with frozen ground.

Make sure the drain at the end of the driveway is below the frost line, the water can freeze in it, and back up , if its not pitched properly.