What's the area of the landing? Is it big enough to turn a small snowblower 90 degrees in?

You see, I keep my 5 hp Ariens snow blower in the basement boiler room of my building. I purchased it because it's design allowed me to install larger wheels on it without those larger wheels interfering with the scoop or anything. I can put up to 18 inch wheels on it without the wheels hitting either the scoop or the oil drain pipe on the side of the engine.

So, I have two pair of wheels for it; the regular 10 inch wheels that I use when blowing snow, and a pair of 14 inch diameter wheels I use for pulling that snow blower up the stairs to the main floor front lobby. Those 14 inch wheels make an otherwise impossible task not only doable, but actually quite easy if a tenant comes along and helps by pushing from below, even a female tenant. I just do one step at a time, and the stairs are wide enough to rest the snow blower on for a second before I do the next step. I have 7 steps that rise a total of about 4 1/2 feet in height.

So, if you're snow blower will allow it, consider purchasing a pair of larger wheels for it, and using them to pull your snow blower up the steps to the deck. Obviously, if you have a 13 hp snowblower that weighs 400 pounds, that option isn't available to you. Or, if the design of your snowblower doesn't allow putting larger wheels on it, you're up the creek too.

But, if you have a single stage or small two stage snow blower, look under "Wheels" in your Yellow Pages directory and phone around to find out who sells small wheels and casters. That place will carry a huge assortment of solid rubber and pneumatic wheels in all sizes. My 14 inch wheels have solid rubber tires on steel rims with 3/4 inch bearings. The bearings on the kind of wheels I have can be replaced to accomodate anything from a 1/2 inch to about a 1 inch diameter shaft, and most small wheels will come with replacable bearings for different size shafts.

And, I've been pulling first a (I'm guessing at least) 160 pound snow blower up that flight of stairs since I bought a Noma snow blower about 20 years ago, and the Ariens (at about 140 pounds) since I bought it about 5 years ago.

Also, what a lot of people here in Winnipeg do is buy a small electric single stage snow thrower. Yardworks makes a 12 amp unit that only weighs 46 pounds that's very popular up here. It's certainly underpowered if you want to clear a driveway, but if you're just doing a deck or a sidewalk, people find that they're good enough.

Check out the Yardworks 12 amp 20 inch electric single stage snow blower at the bottom of this web site:

Snow Throwers | Canadian Tire

Read the reviews. Most people think it's OK for what it is; an electric snow blower. Also, they should be going on sale in another few weeks once the snow starts to melt.