What is the best thing to melt ice off of the driveway?

We’ve always used salt, but as Tim stated above its effectiveness really dies down to nothing once it reaches a certain temperature. Once you reach that point your goal is no longer to melt the ice but to make it walkable by increasing the traction. We’ve always used very coarse cat litter to sprinkle over the ice to give you that extra grip you need.

Sodium Chloride,(Halite),Rock Salt mixed with sand. Mix the two together to see where you threw the salt. JS

I believe that it’s Potassium Chloride. It’s sold as “Ice Melter”. It’s the same thing that is used in water softeners, but it’s smaller crystals.
It works much better than Halite (Rock Salt) and at lower temperatures.

Once you start to get below 15 - 20 degrees, salt becomes less and less effective.

There is one way I’m for sure thats better than shoveling snow or buying dangerous chemicals that are bad for the enviorment to melt snow…A Radiant heat driveway. You flip the switch the heat come on in the drive way and the snow melts. I’m in colorado right now we have 4 feet where I live today. The important thing is, not to wait till a couple of feet to flip the switch if you want it to work fast. Radiant heating systems are also fantastic for the home too. Check into it.

As far as I know nothing beats salt (trust me I am canadian:-). You can of course mix the salt with gravel (that’s what cities do to avoid slipping on the little pieces of ice leftover). Buy your grandma the big salt bag, tell her to use a small container to throw the salt on the ice (that way she needn’t lift the big heavy bag). She should also hire someone to come shovel the snow and throw ice on the driveway. Maybe she can find a neighbors kid to come after every snow fall. Happy winter!

Salt is bad for your lawn. It is Corrosive, damages concrete & vegetation. If you can, use Magnesium Chloride.

The best thing to use to melt ice off the driveway is salt. You can buy a large bag of rock salt at most improvement stores for relatively cheap. Use a small bowl or a scoop to throw the ice on the driveway.

You can also get Potassium Chloride or Magnesium Chloride. Both of these will melt off the ice but may take a little slower than rock salt. However, they won’t be as damaging to the driveway as salt.

You can pick up rock salt, magnesium chloride or potassium chloride at any of the following locations:

• Walmart
• Target
• Home Depot
• Lowes
• Tractor Supply Co.