If you’re one of those people who could go ice skating on your driveway or has to waddle like a penguin outside your front door to avoid slipping, you’ve probably been thinking of putting down salt to melt the problem away.
But you know that rock salt (sodium chloride) is nasty stuff that damages your plants and grass and maybe even your concrete, is dangerous to pets and that its overuse on highways is harming waterways. And you know there was a shortage last year which left people scrambling.
So you would like an alternative. Fortunately, they exist.
There’s material that makes ice less slippery but doesn’t melt it, and material that melts it.
The first category, stuff to create traction on the ice, can involve almost anything as long as the individual particles are small enough to stick. Sand, sawdust, non-clumping cat litter or wood ash are common because they’re cheap and easy to get, but people even use bird seed or coffee grounds. I’ve had success with pine needles scattered from the post-holiday Christmas tree.
Seed and pine needles have an advantage in that they won’t be a problem when spring comes, whereas you’ll want to sweep up the sand and cat litter.
Systems for chemically melting ice — as compared to physically melting it with a flamethrower — are quite varied.
Calcium magnesium acetate, or CMA, is a fairly new option that works well down to well below zero temperatures, is biodegradable and doesn’t harm plants or pets. But it’s expensive, at least 10 times the cost of rock salt.
Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride are less expensive than CMA and not quite as safe for plants and pavement but still an improvement over rock salt. They have pros and cons, including how cold it can get for them to still melt the ice (calcium is the champ, magnesium the laggard).
Then there are less common options. One is a mixture based on urea — a fertilizer component, meaning your plants like it — that works pretty well, judging from reports. It gets a thumbs-up from the ASPCA because it is gentle on pets’ paws.
Another idea you’ll find online is rubbing alcohol mixed with warm water and a little dish soap. You can also put some in a spray bottle and keep it in your car for de-icing the windshield, since airports use an alcohol-based solution to de-ice airplanes.
Another idea, of course, is to live with the ice. Get some cleats for your outdoor shoes, winter tires for the car, warn any visiting friend, and take solace in the knowledge that this, too, shall pass.