took liz crenshaw and folks out here into the front lawn for a field trip today and cut up a square foot of our snow and that one little square weighed 20 pounds. you can sort of see the -- what it's doing to our snow shovel here. can you get a good picture of that? our snow shovel here is straight up or very, very crooked and beat up. a lot of snow shovels around the area are taking on this kind of awkward shape to them. a lot of new snow shovels will have to be bought out here. the roads have been fairly uniform right in this little part of town. but, boy, as you know a lot of places that they weren't able to get out and treat right away, it's going to be a real issue with the more snow we'll have and the potential for icy mix to start with. it's going to be a major problem for the road crews anywhere that has not been able to be plowed down to the bare pavement. this is going to turn into concrete-like icy stuff packed on to the ground. it's going to take many, many more days for everybody to get that done. you can see here the light snow already started out here on the front lawn of

liz crenshaw has answers to questions that viewers are asking. hi, liz. >> hi. we've been fielding viewer e-mails all day. a popular one, what about the downed trees? this is the 400 block of allison street northwest. a stree toppled on top of a car. many people wonder will the insurance cov this damage? the answer is yes if you have comprehensive insurance. now if you get into an accident, liability insurance is what's going to pay. but if you hit something else, you've got to have collision insurance in order to be covered. remember that. also, today viewers have contacted us about something called gas vents buried in the snow. the vent of the gas meter was covered with snow. it's very important to keep those meters, clear. do not use a shovel. it can damage the meter. it would be very dangerous. the gas company recommends that you use your hands or a broom to clear off your outdoor gas meters. mary said remember to clean the snow off your heat pump. if a heat pump is covered by ice or snow, it's not going to work properly. that was the problem brenda had toda

liz crenshaw is here with her snowy version of "ask liz." >> yeah. hi there. viewer concerned about the slippery steps and sidewalks. so there's lots of choices. what's the best thing to do to keep them -- there are good answers and bad one. the first thing that might come to mind is called rock salt. while it's cheap, it can do a number on your concrete sidewalk or driveway. it can cause your sidewalk to flake and cause that mortar between your bricks to fall apart. so instead you might want to try nitrogen fertilizer. it will felt the ice without affecting the concrete. the other option is kitty litter. it will give you traction and it's not going to mess with your concrete. also, don't forget about good old sand. it's cheap. it's not going to do any damage. it will give you traction. don't be tempted to poor antifreeze on your steps and driveway. it's dangerous for your pets. it smells sweet and then they'll lap it up and poison themselves. >> and then you pay for it all night long when they're throwing up all over your living room or running to the vet. ok

liz crenshaw is here to sort it all out. >> it was a bit confusing this morning, wendy and jim. today ray lahoud spoke before a house appropriations subcommittee on transportation and spouted out a powerful piece of advice to toyota drivers, but then he clarified his statement. >> if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to toyota dealers. they believe they have the fix for it. so what i said in there was obviously a misstatement. what i meant to say and what i thought i said was if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dler and they'll fix it. >> lahoud's initial statement came during a hearing to determine whether toyota responded fast enough and if the fix, a new reenforcement part, will solve the problem. toyota's most recent recall affects more than 2 million vehicles with the potential for sticking gas pedals. toyota announced a fix earlier this week, a steel shim to be installed on to the existing accelerator. meanwhile, federal safety officials have widened the investigation to see if the same problem could exist for other

. >> liz crenshaw is here with more on what you can do to minimize the damage. what can you do? >> well, there's some things to worry about. other things we can't do a lot about. the rooftops we've seen collapse have been flat roofs according to the institu for business and home safety. a flat roof like this one that collapsed in prince george's county is often weighed down with more snow than a pitched rooftop that allows snow to fall off. that's the good news. how much weight are we talking about? well, we took a square foot, 18 inches deep of snow, from outside front of news4 today and with the help of chuck bell we weighed it. now, the old snow and the ice weighed in at about 20 pounds. if you add to that the nu12 inches that we expect, that's supposed toeigh another five pounds which is 25 pounds per square foot. a fairfax county structural engineer told us today residential rooftops are designed to handle about 30 pounds per square foot. we sort of made it. experts say that a structure can withstand two times that, so most roofs should be just fine. we want to emphasize do

so liz crenshaw is here now to tell us why that is, and how we can all be better shovlers. >> jim and barbara, shoveling in stages is going to help you later. you want to do whatever you can to minimize the damage from this storm. as the snow builds up, you have to think about melting. i know that sounds strange, but you have to think about it. alvin saks is a construction consultant who specializes in protecting homes from water damage. he suggests that when you're shoveling, don't forget to clear the areas around your downspouts, so when that snow does begin to melt, it has somewhere to go. also, remember to shovel around the doors and any openings surrounding in the foundation of your home or your business. this includes those sliding glass door areas, the opening to your basement. don't forget to clear the drain at the bottom of the outside stairwells. it's recommended that all these areas be cleared three feet from the structure. now, if you're worried about your window wells and they're full of snow, avoid using a shovel to avoid that snow. it might break the glass. instead, use