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How to de-ice driveway???

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  • Dec 25th, 2013 2:33 pm
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Oct 19, 2008
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Whitby
cwb27 wrote: Like others have mentioned, the key is to let the ice melter penetrate the ice and loosen the bond between the ice and the driveway. Once this happen the ice should come up relatively easy.
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.
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May 18, 2011
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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.
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Apr 20, 2011
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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.
Zamboni wrote: 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.
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.
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Oct 19, 2008
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aqnd wrote: 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.
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.
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Apr 20, 2011
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Zamboni wrote: I guess...but the areas without salt sure broke up easy....the ice wasn't adhered to the driveway at all.
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 :)
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Aug 12, 2007
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Waterloo
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.
Ive always found this to be true. So much so that I barely ever use salt ( and I have a 50' stretch of sidewalk).
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Jan 31, 2007
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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?
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Jul 14, 2008
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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.
+1
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.
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Mar 5, 2011
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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 .
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Aug 20, 2011
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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 :cool:
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Nov 9, 2007
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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 :cool:
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.
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Nov 13, 2005
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GTA
SurplusPlus 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.
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 $25.00

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