# Lawn Safe Ice Melt?



## gravylookout (Jun 22, 2018)

In the summer I don't get caught up in competing with the neighbors for lawn domination. I keep my lawn nice for me and my family. But if I don't have the cleanest driveway and sidewalks on the block when winter comes around I go crazy! In the past I've used your typical chemical coated salt to keep things dry when it's 0° out. However this burns the edges of the lawn really bad and it takes a lot of work to get it back to normal.

Has anyone used a lawn safe product that you could recommend? I'm tempted to try something like this "All Natural" liquid deicer. It's magnesium chloride with some corn based additive. 









I'm open to pretty much anything that won't harm the turf.


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## gravylookout (Jun 22, 2018)

I did some searching around the internet and talked with the TLF discord guys and the consensus seems to be that calcium chloride is a much better alternative to rock salt than magnesium chloride. Here's a chart I found that outlines some common ice melting chemicals.










According to @Greendoc Sodium Chloride and Magnesium Chloride can damage the soil structure. Potassium Chloride can work but only at near freezing temperatures (not gonna fly in North Dakota). Some people will tell you that Urea can work but it has almost no melting capabilities and is essentially just there for traction. The trick with any chemical deicer is to use it sparingly. Remove as much snow and ice as you can manually and avoid compacting it by driving or walking over it a lot prior to removal.

After shopping around online I decided to go with this product. 96% Calcium Chloride Snow and Ice melting pellets. I think the rest is an additive that prevents the product from sticking to itself.










Aside from my two stage snow blower that I use when we get more than 2" at once, I use a simple snow shovel with a metal scraping edge and a long handled ice scraper like this one. When the scraper gets dull from running it on the concrete just sharpen it up with a flap wheel like you would your mower blades.


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## Khy (Jul 27, 2018)

Home Depot carries Calcium Chloride for much cheaper than that Amazon product.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-50-lb-Calcium-Chloride-Ice-Melting-Pellets-7892/202590325

My local store says it has about 500 bags in stock. Never used the product before but I'm planning to try it out this year.


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## gravylookout (Jun 22, 2018)

Khy said:


> Home Depot carries Calcium Chloride for much cheaper than that Amazon product.
> 
> https://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-50-lb-Calcium-Chloride-Ice-Melting-Pellets-7892/202590325
> 
> My local store says it has about 500 bags in stock. Never used the product before but I'm planning to try it out this year.


I should have been more clear. That was just an example, you can find calcium chloride pretty much anywhere. My local Tractor Supply has 50# bags for about $20.


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## jocoxVT (Apr 25, 2018)

gravylookout said:


> Khy said:
> 
> 
> > Home Depot carries Calcium Chloride for much cheaper than that Amazon product.
> ...


Help a southerner out with a few questions. How much do you apply? In Charlotte, we may get one or two snow storms a year. The issue is my driveway is almost 300 feet which from the road drops down about 10 feet and back up 10 or so feet. Given I live in the woods, the tree cover means snow on my driveway doesnt melt for multiple days and therefore, to be safe, I park the cars at the top of the driveway if we need to get out. This is pretty inconvenient with four kids. Would I in theory be able to put this down after the snow has stopped and it would in theory melt it all off. The issue we normally have is that after the snow we almost always get freezing rain so by the time I can get to it its sheet of ice. I know there are probably many of you accustomed to snow laughing at my incompetence here but this seems almost too good to be true.


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## gravylookout (Jun 22, 2018)

@jocoxVT I'm no scientist but I think what happens is the salt changes the melting point of the water so that it will melt at much lower temperatures. That ice that sticks around on your driveway is exactly what this is used for. If the ice is thin enough it will just evaporate away. If it's a little thicker then the salt will help it to release from the driveway so you can easily scrape it up with a shovel. Even if you don't scrape it up it will pit the surface giving you much better traction than smooth ice. It will also melt a thin layer of snow in warmer temperatures.

A cup of the pellets would be a good amount on a 10'x10' area. I usually just sprinkle the stuff out of a small bucket with a garden trowel. Anything works really, just make sure to wash your hands afterwards if hand applying. It works very quickly, you'll notice a change right away and within 5-10 minutes it should have done it's job.


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## jocoxVT (Apr 25, 2018)

@gravylookout, how frequently do you need to apply? I am thinking, regardless, this is something I should be doing. Had a truck end up in my yard last year because they challenged the driveway and lost. They said they tried ran out of steam coming up the incline to the house, hit the gas and just spun tires, drifting back into my yard. Tow truck came and it was a big to do because I have two large culverts at the bottom of the hill. I am just wondering if throwing something like this down would allow me to use my driveway almost within 24 hours.


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## gravylookout (Jun 22, 2018)

jocoxVT said:


> @gravylookout, how frequently do you need to apply? I am thinking, regardless, this is something I should be doing. Had a truck end up in my yard last year because they challenged the driveway and lost. They said they tried ran out of steam coming up the incline to the house, hit the gas and just spun tires, drifting back into my yard. Tow truck came and it was a big to do because I have two large culverts at the bottom of the hill. I am just wondering if throwing something like this down would allow me to use my driveway almost within 24 hours.


One application per rain/snow event will do. You should be able to drive on it as soon as you want really. Like I said, you'll notice the ice melt working right away. Apply it to the driveway, spend 10 minutes cleaning something up in the garage, then tackle the worst bits with a shovel and you're good to go!


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## jfoard (Jul 2, 2018)

If you know a snow storm is coming you can also throw it down before the storm to keep it from sticking to the driveway. I try to do it before every storm where I live because it makes it a lot easier to shovel off the driveway also.


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