Should I lift the auger up on my snow blower for Ottawa pavers?

Yes, you should definitely raise your snow blower auger when clearing snow from interlock pavers in Ottawa. Set the skid shoes to lift the auger housing at least 10-15mm (about half an inch) above the paver surface to prevent catching raised or shifted pavers.

Ottawa's freeze-thaw cycles cause interlock pavers to shift and heave throughout the winter, creating uneven surfaces that can catch a low-set auger. When your snow blower's auger scrapes against raised pavers, it can chip the paver edges, gouge the surface, and potentially damage your auger blades. More problematically, the auger can catch a loose or raised paver and throw it, creating a safety hazard and damaging your driveway.

Interlock pavers in Ottawa move significantly during winter due to our extreme freeze-thaw cycling and deep frost penetration. Even well-installed driveways will have some pavers that sit slightly higher after frost heaving, and the polymeric sand joints compress and shift with temperature changes. Your snow blower auger set too low will find every raised edge and loose paver.

Practical snow removal tips for Ottawa interlock driveways:

• Adjust your skid shoes to create clearance between the auger and paver surface


• Use a slower forward speed to maintain better control over uneven surfaces


• Consider a two-stage snow blower over a single-stage for better clearance control


• Keep a snow shovel handy for areas where the raised auger leaves behind packed snow


• Apply sand rather than salt for traction — salt accelerates efflorescence (white staining) in paver joints and can wash out polymeric sand

The trade-off is leaving some snow behind, but this is far preferable to damaging your pavers or snow blower. You can clean up remaining snow with a shovel or broom. Many Ottawa homeowners with interlock driveways find that a combination approach works best — snow blower with raised auger for the bulk removal, followed by hand clearing of remaining snow in problem areas.

If your interlock driveway has significant heaving or many loose pavers, consider having them relevelled in spring. Proper relevelling involves lifting the affected pavers, adding bedding sand, recompacting, and relaying — this creates a smoother surface for next winter's snow removal.