There are two kinds of balconies; the ones set back into the building and the ones that stick out from the building. I’ve only ever lived in an apartment with the former. Never got enough snow build up to worry about no matter how much it snowed. I imagine the stuck out balconies get a great deal more snow (especially if there’s no other balcony above it). Who do people with those kinds of balconies shovel them off? What to they do with the snow (just throwing in on the street/sidewalk bellow sounds dangerous and possibly illegal)? Or is it just not a problem to leave all that snow on the balcony until it melts?
Since you rarely use a balcony in the winter I assume that you just leave it until it melts. Most balconies have some way to deal with rain water so the snow should end up in a gutter at some point.
You could just shovel it off the balcony. I doubt it would cause any issues down on the street since there is snow in the street and on the sidewalks already.
If it got past a certain height I used to just go out and scrape it off. But we had bushes and the other porch beneath us. I’d go 'round and make sure they weren’t home, and then shovel it off, and then go downstairs and shovel off any snow I had gotten on their porch.
Honestly, though, even though we usually get a fair amount of snow it was only once or twice a season I had to do this.
I used a broom on the one balcony that stuck out. The one that was inset was on the sheltered side of the building and barely got more than a dusting.
I lived in apartment buildings with balconies for about 4 years. The balconies never seemed to get much snow because there were balconies above. I suppose the person on the top floor might have had to shovel or something.
Then again, you never really saw anyone using a balcony in the winter.
I’m on the top floor of my building and I have a sticky-outy balcony. I never shovel it.
Melt it. Hot water in a gardening can does the job. But as others said, you rarely need to go out there in the winter unless there is a utility closet you keep things in.
Don’t know why you’d want to shovel it off, unless you wanted to use it. You know, sit out in sub-freezing weather and enjoy a pina colada.
Weight shouldn’t be an issue; balconies are usually cantlevered out and part of the floor structure so can handle as much weight as the floor inside the unit.