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If you have a bad back like I do (or any health problems really) or maybe an elderly person that isn’t too steady on their feet, this electric walk way mat is worth it’s weight in gold!HeatTrak Heated Snow Melting Walkway Mat | Outdoor ‘No Slip’ Heated Walkway Mat 30 x 60 Inch | No More Shoveling, Salting and Slipping
Its an electric (plug in) mat that stays just warm enough that Ice and snow won’t build up on it! You can connect several mats together (they just plug together, one mat into the next mat so no need to run multiple electric chords). They even make small mats that go on individual steps! To keep your steps nice and Ice free.
No shoveling, no bags of salt killing the grass and mangling your back having to load and unload the heavy bags from the car. Just plug it in and if it starts to snow… turn it on. If you want to get really fancy you can even order a remote control for it 🙂 since the plug is right beside our entryway we opted not to get the remote control because we always check the weather forecast and go outside so often with Conestoga Chuck and lil bit that we just turn it on manually if it looks like it needs to be turned on.
For Conestoga Chuck and lil bit we worry about salt harming/burning their paws, so we try not to use salt anywhere they would be walking. Salt can cause some nasty damage to doggie paws in the winter! For lil bit it’s especially nice because her tiny little paws get super cold very easy and we have to make sure to keep an eye on her during outside potty breaks. We always shovel a path for her to use because the snows we get in Montana are deeper that she is tall! We use a “snow Joe” battery powered snow broom to make her a path in the lawn areas. But this mat also gives her a place to run to that is slightly warm’ish (about room temperature if you touch it with a bare hand) for her to put her cold paws on should she need it.
We only purchased the one mat so far, just to test it out… but I forsee us adding some more as winter progresses. The mats are very well made. They are nice and thick and durable rubber and not slippery to walk on if wet. They are a bit on the expensive side, but if you think about how much money (and time) you spend on salt and shoveling or paying someone to shovel.. it is actually very economical. Besides, if you throw your back out or break a hip because you fell on some ice I’m sure it’s much cheaper than an emergency room visit! lol
I’m also thinking this mat would be nice in the RV for winter camping and cold floors! So my rule of “anything we buy should have multiple purposes” applies in this case as well.
So here are some links to check out this mat and some other awesome winter snow removal tools we have found. The electric chord to the mat has to be ordered separately. So make note of that, but you only need the one. We really like the snow joe’s because they are battery operated which means no need to haul heavy cans of gasoline to fill up a traditional snow blower. Just insert battery, push button, and off we go! It gets enough power to do a very steep, very large, driveway (self propelled with forward and reverse) and then some before we have to recharge the batteries. The snow broom can be a bit tricky if the wind is blowing the wrong way … occasionally we get a face full of blowing snow lol and the only complaint I would have about the snow broom is that it has a plastic shovel piece (the part that turns and throws the snow) and we have broken/chipped it some because we use it in a second driveway that is gravel, and in the back yard to make doggie paths… and frozen poops can be rock hard when you hit one! Lol… but on the bright side a replacement piece is easily ordered, easily replaced, and not too expensive. The larger snow Joe snow blower has a metal shovel (turning) piece and we have had absolutely no problems with it and this will be our third winter using both, so we can easily recommend both!
So, we hope everyone is ready for winter and if not it’s time to jump online and start ordering before it’s too late and that next crazy blizzard hits. I have a feeling this is gonna be a wild winter! With lots of snow. Don’t forget to protect those puppy paws please!
Conestoga Chuck 