Salt, Sand Or Mixture To Keep Driveway Snow Free?

[EViS]

I would like to get ahead of the game and reduce the amount of snow and ice that will settle on our driveway and that I inevitably have to shovel. Is sand in any way effective? Is salt the only answer? Or a mixture of both?

How much should I spread per m2? And should I spread it now before it snows, after, or both?

I have some dishwasher salt and a fair amount of sand lying around, so just need some educating.

Edited by EViS on Thursday 17th January 20:01

[okie592]

Dishwasher salt dissolves concrete so don't use that

[LuS1fer]

Sand does bugger all on its own. I know, I tried it in the last snow and after it melted (after the snow went away, nothing to do with the sand), I had to sweep it all up again.

[s p a c e m a n]

Buy a powerful leaf blower, it makes moving fresh snow more fun

[Marcellus]

The best thing you can do is move the snow away from where you want it whilst it's still fresh.

If you walk/drive on it you compact it which makes it harder to clear.

Even worse if you allow/encourage it to melt and then it re-freezes that forms ice which is a right pita to clear.

Whereas, sweep (or blow) it away when it's fresh and you don't get these issues.

It's not uncommon to have to clear a driveway several times during a day (6 was my record)

[davepoth]

Marcellus said:

The best thing you can do is move the snow away from where you want it whilst it's still fresh.

If you walk/drive on it you compact it which makes it harder to clear.

Even worse if you allow/encourage it to melt and then it re-freezes that forms ice which is a right pita to clear.

Whereas, sweep (or blow) it away when it's fresh and you don't get these issues.

It's not uncommon to have to clear a driveway several times during a day (6 was my record)

That. Salt will make the snow liquid down to -4, but it'll refreeze as ice below that. Bad times. The very best thing is to shovel it all out of the way.

[DozyGit]

The PH way of doing it would be to use a flame thrower, naturally powered by a V8 engine. But a more sensible solution for the bone lazy would be to bury some underfloor heating pipes and run a separate boiler or use an isolated circuit off the main one (maybe via a heat exchanger) to get the drive a few degrees above freezing :-)

Edit, just wanted to add that you can use an electrical system as well, if you are not a company director ...

http://www.heatizon.com/products/radiant-snow-melt...

Edited by DozyGit on Thursday 17th January 21:00

[hman]

Why not just make a bonfire and pour a gallon of v power on the drive.

[Chrisgr31]

Shovel the snow out the way and then sprinkle road salt around.

[Simpo Two]

A £10 snow shovel, and do it when the snow is fresh. Sweep up what's left with a broom and you'll have a clear surface. Once you start compacting it it gets harder (literally!).

[944fan]

hman said:

Why not just make a bonfire and pour a gallon of v power on the drive.

Was going to suggest the same. Kill it with fire.

[Marcellus]

I used to drop off/pick up from a chalet with a heated drive and it was great.. long flowing steep driveway which was always clear!

There was one issue though... The 1st season they had it installed throughout the winter the road which the driveway came off always had a large patch of thick clear ice on it from the melt water from the drive

The Marie kicked up a right fuss about it and to be fair it was quite dangerous/selfish of the chalet owner.... during the interseason the chalet owner had a small Cattle grid built into the bottom of their drive which during the winter acted as a soakaway and after that there were no issues.

[AndrewEH1]

Adding cat litter to the salt mix helps to absorb some of the water...

Sand won't really help as it doesn't disolve!

[Andrew[MG]]

Do you have a coal fire/woodburner? Ash is better than salt at melting snow - it's what they use in Japan

[EViS]

We just had our chimney swept the other day. All the ash, and there was a fair amount of it, has now gone . I shall remember for next year.

I guess broom and shovel it is.

[LuS1fer]

I imagine ash and cat litter will leave your drive very grey for some time.

What you need to do is lie some poor people across the drive and ask them to get up when you're ready to leave. Snow is a good insulator.

[EViS]

So, I threw a couple of handfuls of dishwasher salt between my driveway access and the pavement's drop curb. No snow settled there all day! I've just swept the driveway into a nice pile, ready to get a monster snowperson, as the politically correct would say, built!

[hman]

Swept the the drive, chucked some rock salt from the builders yard on it... No snow or ice !!

[Galileo]

Does anyone know if road salt effects block paving in any way?

[Simpo Two]

LuS1fer said:

What you need to do is lie some poor people across the drive and ask them to get up when you're ready to leave. Snow is a good insulator.

Work for the homeless - an excellent idea! No more need to clutter up street corners selling Big Issue.