Driveway and Walkway Ice Melt

Introduction:

 If you live in the North Country during the winter you are confronted with dealing with ice on your driveway and walkways. Although you remove the snow as soon as it hits the ground there is always some residue left behind. If it is not removed it will become a slippery hazard to foot trafic.

 Unfortunately the residue melts and turns to ice, making your driveway and walkways more like an ice rink than a place for safe passage. If you have ever fallen on ice you know just how dangerous it can be.

Often homeowners use sand to reduce the slippery hazard of ice on driveways and walkways. But sand has its drawbacks, it is messy and you have to clean it up come spring. If you don’t want to use sand you are left with using chemicals is a variety of salt compounds. Salts reduce the surface freezing point to below zero causing ice and snow to melt at a lower temperature.

In years gone by the only remedy to deal with ice was to spread rock salt (sodium chloride) on it to melt the ice, allowing the water to evaporate into the atmosphere. It was very effective when used on asphalt driveways and walkways. It continued to melt the ice well below the freezing point. However, sodium chloride is destructive to concrete driveways and walkways. It also can damage lawns and other vegetation. Eventually better products became available.

Calcium chloride and potassium chloride became the ice melt of choice for a few years. They both are excellent ice melts and react a little faster than sodium chloride but they too are corrosive to concrete driveways and walkways. Magnesium chloride was developed as a replacement although it is only active down to approximately zero degrees Fahrenheit. Magnesium chloride is much less damaging to concrete driveways and walkways and is more environment friendly toward vegetation.

Quite by accident I stumbled upon a new product called Polar Express. It is a fantastic driveway and walkway ice melt and snow melt that melts down to -15 degrees Fahrenheit and is safe for the environment. It is a blend of ice melt in a special release formula consisting of 80% rock salt, 15% calcium chloride, and 5% potassium chloride. The mixture allows the ice to melt at different speeds allowing it to continue to melt over an extended period of time.

Polar Express ice melt contains heat generating ice control crystals that ensure excellent product performance at very low temperatures. I have found that it outperforms all other ice melt products in its class. It can be purchased in 25 and 50 pound bags at most hardware stores or home improvement supply centers.

I highly recommend polar Express driveway and walkway ice melt as an ice remover. It is relatively inexpensive, approximately $15 for a 50 pound bag. It is much safer on the environment than other alternatives.

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