My experience was the opposite, areas with no salt or de-icer broke up easily.....where I threw salt and some green/blue de icer crystal the ice was pitted-but stuck really well to the driveway.
How to de-ice driveway???
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- Dec 25th, 2013 2:33 pm
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- SCORE
- Zamboni
- Deal Fanatic
- Oct 19, 2008
- 7407 posts
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- Whitby
- Love2Snack
- Sr. Member
- May 18, 2011
- 531 posts
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- NORTH YORK
I buy the ice melter from Costco and I am quite happy with it. I used that and then the ice chopper to cut it up and it was a breeze.
- aqnd
- Deal Fanatic
- Apr 20, 2011
- 7747 posts
- 2750 upvotes
- ON
Zamboni wrote: ↑Anyone else find that salt and other ice melters make the ice harder to remove from driveways? That was my experience yesterday, the large areas without salt broke up easily in huge chunks just from the weight of a steel spade being dropped on. The areas with salt had the ice pitted (certainly not as slippery)...it was firmly adhered to the asphalt driveway and concrete walkway. Had to scrape away at those areas, even where no one had walked the salted ice was far more work to remove.
You waited too long, it got colder, and/or didn't use enough salt
The bit you used melted some into water, which filled in the space under the ice and secured it to the ground when refreezing.
- Zamboni
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- Oct 19, 2008
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- Whitby
I guess...but the areas without salt sure broke up easy....the ice wasn't adhered to the driveway at all.
Maybe if I used a ton of salt, got out there about 2 hours later and shoveled the salt would be worthwhile. From my experience, if its a light amount of ice I'll throw some salt out for traction...from now on if its a big icestorm I'll skip the salt and just break the ice up.
- aqnd
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- Apr 20, 2011
- 7747 posts
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- ON
Exactly
By adding salt you are melting some. The resulting water can flow into that small gap and refreeze as the temperature changes/it gets diluted by being in contact with more ice
If you get to it before that has a chance to happen, you've opened yourself a hole and can start to pry up the ice in sheets. Wait too long, and you make it worse
- Supahhh
- Deal Addict
- Aug 12, 2007
- 4685 posts
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- Waterloo
Ive always found this to be true. So much so that I barely ever use salt ( and I have a 50' stretch of sidewalk).Zamboni wrote: ↑Anyone else find that salt and other ice melters make the ice harder to remove from driveways? That was my experience yesterday, the large areas without salt broke up easily in huge chunks just from the weight of a steel spade being dropped on. The areas with salt had the ice pitted (certainly not as slippery)...it was firmly adhered to the asphalt driveway and concrete walkway. Had to scrape away at those areas, even where no one had walked the salted ice was far more work to remove.
- JohnyBGood
- Deal Addict
- Jan 31, 2007
- 1997 posts
- 545 upvotes
- Markham
I'm almost out of salt, but I have many bags of top soil left-over from the summer. If I sprinkle topsoil on the driveway, will it do anything to the ice, or provide traction?
- onlineharvest
- Deal Fanatic
- Jul 14, 2008
- 8312 posts
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- Ontario
+1Zamboni wrote: ↑Anyone else find that salt and other ice melters make the ice harder to remove from driveways? That was my experience yesterday, the large areas without salt broke up easily in huge chunks just from the weight of a steel spade being dropped on. The areas with salt had the ice pitted (certainly not as slippery)...it was firmly adhered to the asphalt driveway and concrete walkway. Had to scrape away at those areas, even where no one had walked the salted ice was far more work to remove.
That's what I found.
I cleared about 80% of the driveway TODAY, when it was REALLY COLD, and chunks just fell off. Once you got going, it kept coming off.
And I just used a flat heavy shovel, wish I had an scraper.
Sometimes I hit straight down and pieces broke off. Others I just PUSHED the spade under the ice in a straight line, removing the chunks in its path, down to the driveway.
Any areas which seemed to be 'stuck' to the asphalt did require salt to loosen it up.
Those areas benefited from the salt.
- 1bagger
- Deal Addict
- Mar 5, 2011
- 1161 posts
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- Kitchener
Someone from above deposited it there . He can take it away . Îm going wait until spring but after that Im going to call the head office .
- LAPrince
- Sr. Member
- Aug 20, 2011
- 699 posts
- 34 upvotes
- Markham
1) Put Sifto salt all over the driveway
2) Waited 3 hours
3) Went out & used a snow shovel and hit it the ice real hard and everything start to separate into big chunks & for parts that wouldn't separate we used a hammer and hit it real hard and it splited, we were done in 3 hours
Once you get going its a piece of cake + driveway looks cleaner & your driveway becomes the envy of the street
2) Waited 3 hours
3) Went out & used a snow shovel and hit it the ice real hard and everything start to separate into big chunks & for parts that wouldn't separate we used a hammer and hit it real hard and it splited, we were done in 3 hours
Once you get going its a piece of cake + driveway looks cleaner & your driveway becomes the envy of the street
- mmhassa2 [OP]
- Deal Addict
- Nov 9, 2007
- 3879 posts
- 298 upvotes
- Toronto
LOL SO true! Im usually the first one to clean/salt the driveway/side walk and not being able to get this ice off is bothering me. We salted and then ran out of salt so will have to wait till Costco opens and hopefully they've re-stocked by then.LAPrince wrote: ↑1) Put Sifto salt all over the driveway
2) Waited 3 hours
3) Went out & used a snow shovel and hit it the ice real hard and everything start to separate into big chunks & for parts that wouldn't separate we used a hammer and hit it real hard and it splited, we were done in 3 hours
Once you get going its a piece of cake + driveway looks cleaner & your driveway becomes the envy of the street
- sunnybono
- Deal Fanatic
- Nov 13, 2005
- 5897 posts
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- GTA
I just did some reseach online and Calcium chloride is harmful to concrete. The best product is Magnesium Chloride. There's a very popular product call MAG De-icer.. So far, online, I see 50lb bag is going for $25.00SurplusPlus wrote: ↑Do you know for certain it's less harsh on concrete? Pretty much every ice melter in existence (include Alaskan) says it's "gentle" (probably because that's a meaningless term) but always with asterisk and disclaimer.
Alaskan is apparently Calcium Chloride, and other ice melters are usually Sodium Chloride or Potassium Chloride.