Salt vs Ice Melt: What Belongs on Your Walkway

Rock salt: cheap, effective, has a floor

Sodium chloride is the workhorse on lots and driveways. It stops doing much below roughly minus 10 Celsius, so on the coldest nights of a Toronto winter it can leave ice it cannot melt.

Ice melt: works colder, costs more, used where it counts

Blends with calcium or magnesium chloride keep working at much lower temperatures. They cost more per bag, so they go on steps, entrances and ramps rather than across a whole lot.

Timing beats product

Treating a surface before freezing rain stops ice from bonding to it. That does more than any quantity of salt after the fact. Where the forecast allows, pre-treatment is written into the contract.

Keep the record

On a commercial property, every application should be logged with the time and the product. If someone falls, that log is what shows the owner acted reasonably. Every visit on our contracts produces it.

Related questions

Will salt damage my new concrete or interlock?

Heavy rock salt can spall newer concrete and stain interlock. Tell us the surface on your quote and a gentler product is specified for it.

Is salting included in snow removal?

It is a separate line on the quote: per application by default, or included for a fixed season price if you prefer one number.