Snow removal for self-storage: narrow aisles, frozen doors and roof slides

Why is self-storage harder to plow than a parking lot?

Most commercial snow removal is planned around a parking lot with room at the edges. At a storage facility, design guidance published by Inside Self-Storage puts the drives between buildings at roughly 24 to 30 feet, with 30 feet or more at building ends so vehicles can turn, and one of its design articles flags snow removal and stacking as a layout issue in its own right.

Tenants come and go whenever the gate allows, with rental trucks and trailers, so no aisle is reliably empty.

What gets cleared first?

1. The entry lane and keypad. Clear the approach so a driver can pull close enough to reach the keypad from the window, and do the same on the exit side.
2. The gate's travel path. Brush snow out of a slide gate's track or a swing gate's arc, and keep photo eyes and safety edges clear. A gate service company warns that snow or ice on photo eyes can trigger the safety system and keep the gate from closing, and that de-icers can damage a gate's finish.
3. The office. Parking, the accessible space and route, and the entrance, treated.
4. Main drive aisles and fire lanes, then the building ends where vehicles turn.
5. Entrances to climate-controlled buildings, where tenants push carts and dollies.
6. Secondary aisles, then the door fronts.
7. RV and boat rows, drive lanes only.

The clear-by time is the first hour of gate access, not the office opening.

How do you plow an aisle without burying the doors?

Push lengthwise. Carry the snow down the aisle to the row end instead of rolling it sideways, then clean the strip along each row of doors by hand or with a blower, throwing the snow back toward the middle for the next pass. A windrow left along the doors packs the bottoms in and freezes overnight.

Row ends are the only stacking space, and they are also where vehicles turn and fire lanes run, so agree on stacking spots before the season and decide when relocation or hauling starts. See where to put snow in a parking lot. Dead-end aisles have nowhere to push, so plan to haul their snow early.

Never stack in front of any door, against building walls, in the turning space at building ends, at the gate or keypad, on drains, in fire lanes, or against the perimeter fence, where a pile becomes a ladder over it.

Stake the keypad pedestal, gate posts and operator, building corners and the bollards guarding them, downspout outlets, drain grates, hydrants and light pole bases.

Frozen and packed-in roll-up doors

Two things freeze a storage door shut: snow packed against it by a plow or a roof slide, and meltwater that runs to the threshold and refreezes under the bottom seal. A pile against a door also melts toward the threshold, and that water can work under the seal into the unit.

Keep salt away from the doors. Writing for Inside Self-Storage, a regional manager at Trac-Rite Door, a roll-up door maker, advises owners in northern climates not to salt ice at the doors, because it accelerates corrosion of the metal parts. Clear thresholds promptly, use sand for traction, and replace torn bottom seals in the fall.

Ask tenants not to yank a frozen door, which can tear the seal or damage the door; a posted notice can send them to the office instead. The seal frees the way a garage door's does: a plastic scraper, gentle heat, then a dry threshold. See garage door frozen shut.

In aisles that run east and west, the doors facing north sit in their own building's shadow all winter, so their thresholds stay icy longest. Check those rows first after a thaw.

What about snow sliding off the roofs?

FEMA's Snow Load Safety Guide lists metal roof panels among the slippery roofing materials, notes that roofs with slopes as low as 10 degrees have been observed to shed snow, and says that unless a sloped roof has snow guards or cleats, sliding can occur. On a storage building, that snow lands in the aisle, on doors that were just cleared, and on anyone loading a car under the eave.

• Schedule door-front cleanup after slides, not only after snowfall.
• Keep crews and tenants out from under the eaves during a thaw.
• Snow guards inhibit sliding, FEMA says, but adding them is a question for the building maker or a roofer, because the snow they hold stays on the roof as load. See roof snow load warning signs.

RV and boat rows, and tenants with trailers

Outdoor rows hold vehicles that sit all winter. Plow the drive lanes and leave the stored units alone; a pile pushed against a boat or camper is a damage claim. Stake space markers, wheel stops and any power pedestals. Tenants who come in winter are often hitching a trailer, so treat the lane where they back up and keep row ends open for the swing. Boat storage has its own issues; see marinas and boat storage.

Records and contract questions

Tenants bring complaints about slips in the aisles, damaged doors and water in units. Keep the contractor's timestamped visit records with the office's own checks, and if the gate system logs entries, keep that log with them. Before signing, ask:

1. Are aisles plowed lengthwise, and how are door fronts cleaned?
2. Is the gate lane, including the exit side, clear before the first access hour?
3. Where is snow stacked at the row ends, and when does hauling start?
4. What, if anything, is spread near doors and gates?
5. Are RV and boat rows in the scope, and to what standard?
6. How are hits to doors, bollards and building corners reported?