Gritting our own road

Caitriona

Okay, I know it's not weather but it's certainly weather related!

Where's the best place to get grit? What's the difference between that and salt? And where will I get a snow shovel?

If we're getting more of the white stuff we're going to need to keep it under control outside our house. The main road in the village gets gritted but getting to it is impossible. We're on a hill and every car that leaves the estate has to be pushed out. What's the best way to make it safe when things get interesting again?

Cantona's Collars

Your local quarry is best bet,grit is good for traction,salt melts ice-no good for snow though unless it's well compacted.If you get your hands on salt mix it with the grit.

Joe Public

The best time to react to snow is immediately after it falls and clear it off before it gets compacted or partially melts and turns to ice from following frosts. This is probably not an option unless you have an army of willing volunteers ready at hand or some good machinery to move the snow. A grain shovel is very useful when shifting snow but not much good for ice. A hardware, garden centre or builders providers shops are the best places to start shopping for suitable shovels.

hellboy99

You might want to check first were you stand with gritting your road, I asked the council myself about doing the road where I am and was told not to as they don't know the legality of it.

gbee

hellboy99 wrote: »

You might want to check first were you stand with gritting your road, I asked the council myself about doing the road where I am and was told not to as they don't know the legality of it.

Whilst you are correct.

I think we can throw that one in the bin bth.

hellboy99

gbee wrote: »

Whilst you are correct.

I think we can throw that one in the bin bth.

I'd love to but I'm not taking a chance, the council won't come out and told me if i wanted to get grit there's drop-offs around the town. All well and fine if you have car to go get it and ok if you can drive your car out of the estate. I've my own front done but I'm not touching the road.

Caitriona

Wasn't there an announcement that people who cleared paths wouldn't be liable if someone slipped? Does the same logic not apply to roads? It just seems such a silly reason to keep having to help push everyone out! Well, we'll definitely try and keep the path clear anyway, we all managed this as a once off but I don't think this estate could function like this all winter.

hellboy99

Caitriona wrote: »

Wasn't there an announcement that people who cleared paths wouldn't be liable if someone slipped? Does the same logic not apply to roads?

Apparently not from what I was told today, but then again who knows :rolleyes: .

I was told by the council that they would not come down to grit where I live as it's a private estate, so I said myself and others here would be happy to go out and clean it ourselves and could they leave some grit down with us. The answer to that I got was no, they didn't have enough man power nor the time to drop some with us :mad:. Person I spoke to wasn't too happy when I said you'll have to grit down here next year when we are all paying the new poll tax .
I just got told to go to one of four grit collection points to get grit. First one I went to there was none. The second one which is miles out a dangerous country road which has not been gritted, none there either. I was then told by friends there was none at the third, so I just gave up.

As I said before, getting it yourself is fine if you have a car, but what if you can't even drive your car out of the estate for ice or you don't have a car. We were all told after the lessons learned from the last big freeze that the next time things would be fine :rolleyes:

Cantona's Collars

Caitriona wrote: »

Wasn't there an announcement that people who cleared paths wouldn't be liable if someone slipped? Does the same logic not apply to roads? It just seems such a silly reason to keep having to help push everyone out! Well, we'll definitely try and keep the path clear anyway, we all managed this as a once off but I don't think this estate could function like this all winter.

Cork C.C decided that farmers etc. couldn't have any grit due to health+safety reasons and that they would have to do a safety course to be allowed to spread it.Absolute bollix imo.They changed their stance due to pressure from above plus the fact just across the border in Kerry the council gave grit freely to farmers to spread on inaccessible roads.Personally I can't see anybody in your estate complaining if it is gritted-rather that than being stuck or smashing into someone.Fresh snow can be simply swept away so best to get at any new snow before traffic compacts it.

thetonynator

zerks wrote: »

Cork C.C decided that farmers etc. couldn't have any grit due to health+safety reasons and that they would have to do a safety course to be allowed to spread it.Absolute bollix imo.They changed their stance due to pressure from above plus the fact just across the border in Kerry the council gave grit freely to farmers to spread on inaccessible roads.Personally I can't see anybody in your estate complaining if it is gritted-rather that than being stuck or smashing into someone.Fresh snow can be simply swept away so best to get at any new snow before traffic compacts it.

They were definitely right to change their stance, tbh it really doesn't matter about the legality of it, if it came to it in court nobody could say what you did did anything other than make a road safer. Not that any one with an ounce of sense would bring you to court over it.

isle of man

hellboy99 wrote: »

As I said before, getting it yourself is fine if you have a car, but what if you can't even drive your car out of the estate for ice or you don't have a car. We were all told after the lessons learned from the last big freeze that the next time things would be fine :rolleyes:

Did that not teach you that maybe you should keep a bag of salt in your garage incase there is a lot of snow or ice.



* if you have no garage scrap my last comment;)

hellboy99

isle of man wrote: »

Did that not teach you that maybe you should keep a bag of salt in your garage incase there is a lot of snow or ice.

I bought a big bag before the worst of the weather hit and I've now run out. No point buying another bag when council were then giving it out for free but looks like I'll just have to buy another one as they can't be relied on. Besides, going to need it if we get hit again next week.

Joe Public

hellboy99 wrote: »

You might want to check first were you stand with gritting your road, I asked the council myself about doing the road where I am and was told not to as they don't know the legality of it.

If you ask the council and there are no clear guidelines then they have to say no, they must give the official answer.

If you really want to do it then don't ask and take all necessary precautions.