Discussions

I have spread a lot of kitty litter and sand on our driveway and sidewalk and public sidewalk but you would still need ice walkers on your shoes to be safe when walking. One of our neighbours spread some brand of ice melt on his driveway a couple of years ago which was supposedly "safe to use on concrete". This particular ice melt destroyed the top layer of his concrete - so badly destroyed that he could brush off the concrete with a broom - when he complained to the company about this "safe ice melt" he was told that he probably used too much and therefore not our problem.  
 
Is there some brand of ice melt that you have used that didn't destroy your concrete?  
 
Also I wish Canada Post would spread something on the concrete around their community mailboxes - sheer polished ice - you cannot access your mail unless you are wearing ice walkers - also have to wonder how the carriers manage to stand at the mailboxes and deposit mail into each cubicle. Wonder how many carriers have been injured lately at the community mailboxes or delivering to your home.  
 
If you have had excellent results with some kind of ice melt (safety salt or whatever you call it) please post your reply.  
Thank you.

Alternative landscaping sells Ecomelt , made from depleted sugar beets. It's less destructive than salt and works great.

not ice melter, but I've heard good things about EcoTraction. (HH) slightly pricier, but supposed to be easy on concrete.  
 
On a related topic, try shoes or boots with Vibram Arctic Grip soles. They're grippy without that golf cleat awkwardness.  
 
Edited by Blue_Guru, 2019-11-27 23:40:21

Blue ice melter is fine

I have used a mix of Alcohol and Windshield washer mix, sprayed over the ice and in a few mins it was gone, with none of the gravel or rock tracking in....

Use course table salt or softener salt sparingly.

for years but yes we had used it on our sidewalks and there was no damage at all.  
 
Rubbing alcohol diluted with water will work fine too.

Sulphate resistant concrete generally gets its resistance from the concrete strength itself, not special additives. Some concerete driveways and sidewalks that are "lower strength" will be more prone to damage from salts. If your concrete sidewalk and driveway on your old house handled salt no problem, but your new driveway wont, its a reminder that things are not built like they used to be. The older timers would quite commonly add extra cement powder to allow for a higher variability in the aggregate. Now a days the testing of aggregates in higher to allow for a more consistent product and the cements powder is more expensive and closely watched during mixing, you simply will only get 28 day, 32-35 MPa concrete if you order concrete for your driveway, but the old timers could of easily had 40-50 MPa which has significantly more sulphate resistance.  
 
Also depends on the contractor, some contractors will "break the rules" and add water to concrete onsite or spray a bit of water ontop while finishing the concrete, both of these are definite no no's as they will weaken the finished concrete especially the concrete at the surface which is where you see the salt damage.  
 
Also note that concrete gains strength with time, you should NEVER put salt on a new driveway or sidewalk and if you do I would say its a 50/50 chance that by spring you will see some surface delamination.  
 
On my concrete driveway I will never use salt, I may use a grippy cheap sand such as stucco sand but never anything with salts in it. Once your concrete surface starts to deteriorate it will look terrible for the rest of eternity, Yes you can "patch" it but those all pop off after a few years and wont match the same color as the rest of your concrete. Once its damaged its damaged forever.

There was a lot of work done on the crescent in Souris this year and one of the discussions we had was what to use on the new sidewalks. It was recommended that NO salt product be used period. To control the slipping hazard it was decided to use a volcanic rock product. So if your not concerned about a small amount of snow buildup this product is supposed to look after the slippery part of winter.