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It is not advisable to use salt on your roof to prevent or remove ice dams. It’s not only mostly ineffective but can also cause serious damage to your roof itself. Salt can rust metal, damage masonry, pit shingles, and cause runoff that’s damaging to plants and animals. 

Yes, but it works best with lightweight snowblowers, the single-stage models or electric versions. Also, you need to have a rubberized intake edge on the ground and preferably rubberized auger paddles, not a metal version. Otherwise you may chip or damage the surface as you work. When it doubt, let the snow lie.

You can also use a snow blower on leveled gravel, but only if you carefully adjust the intake height so it doesn’t kick up the gravel and turn it into flying missiles.

Snowblowers come in three different sizes: first-, second-, and third-stage blowers. Each additional stage is larger with higher intakes, more powerful, and has more gear options.

A first-stage blower, also called a snow thrower, is usually best for snow 6 to 8 inches or below. Electric snow blowers are usually only available in this size. If you regularly get snow that’s well above six inches, consider a second-stage snow blower. If snowstorms dump 2 to 3 feet of snow repeatedly during winter, you need a third-stage snow blower to tackle it.

There are several ways to remove snow from your roof: using a snow rake, salting the roof with calcium chloride, using a rope (cautiously), and using heating cables. It’s important to mention that pretty, fluffy, sparkling snow weighs a great deal, and when physically removing snow from a roof, you should be aware of large snow slabs breaking off. These can weigh hundreds of pounds and are a real danger, so be extremely careful anytime you’re doing this type of work.