Least damaging type of ice melter?

[creaky]

Unfortunately, a fact of life where I live is that when it snows or ices over, we need to treat our steep driveway with something so the cars can reach the house.

I'm wondering if there are some ice melters that are better than others. I assume anything is better than plain old rock salt, but I may be wrong about that. I just don't want the undercarriages of our cars to suffer more than necessary.

 

[Dogfather]

If you can afford it (I can't) redo driveway with radiant heat beneath pavers.

 

[creaky]

If you can afford it (I can't) redo driveway with radiant heat beneath pavers.

I can't afford it either! I actually looked into pricing it out and for our long driveway it would be in the $50-60k range.

 

[Dogfather]

I can't afford it either! I actually looked into pricing it out and for our long driveway it would be in the $50-60k range.

Ouch!
I remember reading somewhere it to be about an extra $17/sqft. on top of the new driveway. Either that was way off or you have a huge driveway.

 

[jpegs13]

Florida

 

[Audios S6]

switch the current porsche for an AWD model :laughing:

You could try sand instead of salt. The ice will remain, but you should get better traction and less corrosion potential on the car. Pretty much every road is going to have some sort of salt or chemical on it that has potential to corrode - how bad is the extra 50' of driveway on top of the miles of driving per day?

Is the driveway concrete or asphalt? The black asphalt tends to thaw stuff much faster than white concrete - somthing to consider when the driveway is redone.

 

[creaky]

Ouch!
I remember reading somewhere it to be about an extra $17/sqft. on top of the new driveway. Either that was way off or you have a huge driveway.

No your quote it not off and yes, the driveway is long, therefore it really added up.

Florida

Sounds good. Will you pay the mortgage on my winter home?!

switch the current porsche for an AWD model :laughing:

Oh, you mean a 911 Turbo? Yep, that's AWD. Come to think of it, so are the Gallardo and Aventador. Those are sensible winter cars to start saving for! Actually, the Porsche gets put away for the winter. I'm more worried about my wife's A5. I have a Toyota beater that I use in the winter.

You could try sand instead of salt. The ice will remain, but you should get better traction and less corrosion potential on the car. Pretty much every road is going to have some sort of salt or chemical on it that has potential to corrode - how bad is the extra 50' of driveway on top of the miles of driving per day?

That last bit is actually a good - and depressing - point.

Is the driveway concrete or asphalt? The black asphalt tends to thaw stuff much faster than white concrete - somthing to consider when the driveway is redone.

It's actually gravel! One more reason I was looking into costs for redoing the driveway.

 

[FUNX650]

the driveway is long,

It's actually gravel!

I never have put down any ice-melters on a gravel driveway.

Bob

 

[creaky]

I never have put down any ice-melters on a gravel driveway.

Bob

Because of the steep incline, if we let the ice build up, even an AWD has difficulty making it up to the house.

 

[mswerb]

Prestone Driveway Heat kicks ass.

 

[banzaitoyota]

Florida

True

 

[wdmaccord]

We have corn based de-icers here in Iowa. Don't know if they sell it nationwide. Try this link out, it has a store locater. Maybe they sell it around you. I never use salt or chemicals mainly for the concrete's benefit (well I guess technically this stuff might contain some chemicals but more mineral based). For the car it doesn't matter because they salt the streets anyway, so I'm going to get that on the car either way.

Welcome to Safe-Walk

 

[creaky]

Prestone Driveway Heat kicks ass.

Thanks, I found it on Amazon.

We have corn based de-icers here in Iowa. Don't know if they sell it nationwide. Try this link out, it has a store locater. Maybe they sell it around you. I never use salt or chemicals mainly for the concrete's benefit (well I guess technically this stuff might contain some chemicals but more mineral based). For the car it doesn't matter because they salt the streets anyway, so I'm going to get that on the car either way.

Welcome to Safe-Walk

I appreciate the link but it appears that product is only available in the midwest.

 

[BulldogAuto]

We have corn based de-icers here in Iowa. Don't know if they sell it nationwide. Try this link out, it has a store locater. Maybe they sell it around you. I never use salt or chemicals mainly for the concrete's benefit (well I guess technically this stuff might contain some chemicals but more mineral based). For the car it doesn't matter because they salt the streets anyway, so I'm going to get that on the car either way.

Welcome to Safe-Walk

Thanks! Nice to see another Iowan on here!