Salting a Driveway Before It Snows

Snow and ice removal may be necessary only after precipitation, but a simple pre-treatment with a salt solution will limit ice forming and bonding to the driveway, and make snow removal easier. Deicing compounds, applied to existing ice, work by lowering the freezing point of water. Anti-icing solutions function in the same way but prevent, rather than treat, ice formation on the driveway. Following shoveling, the driveway will appear wet but not slippery and the snow accumulation near the driveway surface will be especially heavy with moisture.

Warm water
Deicing salt
Sprayer
Shovel, snowplow or snowblower

Instructions

- 1
  Dissolve deicing salt in warm water. Any one of many possible deicing salts is suitable for this. Options range from sodium chloride, or rock salt, which is a traditional and inexpensive but corrosive deicing salt, to fertilizer salts like urea or potash, or the brine backwash from a water softener.
- 2
  Pour the solution into a spray bottle or canister with a spray attachment.
- 3
  Evenly spray the brine solution over the driveway surface within one to two hours of the predicted snow.
- 4
  Shovel the snow either throughout the snow fall or after the snow has finished accumulating. The briny, anti-icing solution will have, to at least some extent, prevented the formation of an ice layer. The snow near the pavement will be especially heavy with the weight of the melt.

How to Get Ice Off of a Driveway

How to Lay Ice Melt Socks on a Roof

Snow Removal