Living in Glenview, Illinois, the winter is the longest season. The cold weather often lingers for eight months. We expect temperatures well below freezing and often below zero. Our average annual snowfall accumulation is three feet. It seems to snow every single day for most of the year. Snow removal can feel like a full-time job. It takes hours to shovel the driveway. It’s not pleasant working outdoors in such cold weather. Plowing, snowblowing, shoveling and scraping is labor-intensive, and it can be difficult to find a spot to pile all that snow. I am fortunate that I have a boiler system that handles both indoor comfort and snow melt. The boiler is installed in the basement and links to a series of pipes that are concealed beneath the floors inside and the pavement outside. The boiler heats up water and circulates it through these pipes. Inside, a radiant flooring system spreads heat across the surface of the floor and infuses it into the air. It warms every object sitting on the floor to further radiate heat. The heat is distributed from corner to corner and rises very slowly. There are no drafts or cold spots, and the temperature from floor to ceiling remains within three degrees of the thermostat setting. The radiant floor system is entirely hidden, totally quiet and requires no maintenance. It doesn’t contribute contaminants into the air or cause insufficient humidity. Plus, it allows for the easy set up of zone control. Each room can be kept at an independent temperature. The outside snowmelt system is very similar. The pipes are installed beneath the pavement of the driveway, walkways, front steps and garage floor. The system automatically starts up when there’s a combination of moisture and temperature drop. The heat spreads across the pavement to melt away snow and ice. It eliminates the need to shovel and concerns over slipping and falling on icy pavement.