How to De-Ice Your Driveway in 15 Minutes?

Did you know that winter brings an increase in heart attacks? Why? Because people must remove snow and ice from driveways and sidewalks. Many do so the traditional way by shoveling snow. And that is the cause of too many heart attacks.

Clearing driveways and sidewalks it hard work. Furthermore, most people do not prepare physically for the task. Who would pump iron in a gym to prepare for a winter of shoveling snow?

However, shoveling snow is a physically demanding task. Snow looks like it is lightweight. But it is not. It is even heavier when it is the wet type of snow or snow that has partially thawed and then frozen over during the night. Worse yet is ice that has formed a sheet on the once cleared driveway. Scraping it off is not fun.

The question then becomes how to de-ice your driveway fast and with the least effort. If you ever lived in an area with heavy snowfall, you know at least some of the most popular methods.Snow removal in Boulder, CO provides some of these snow removal techniques.

• Shovel as much snow off the driveway as possible
• Use a small snow plow or blower, if you own one, soon after the snowfall
• Avoid driving cars on the driveway before it is cleared
• Use rock salt to melt remaining packed snow and ice on your driveway
• Use salt-free deicers whenever possible
• Scrape melting ice from the driveway, preferably into a gutter and not on plants.

All of these techniques involve physical activities. Shoveling snow is hard work. Scraping ice off a driveway is even worse.

This is the reason for using de-icing materials to help with snow and ice removal.

The most common de-icer is rock salt aka sodium chloride. It is the cheapest and often most efficient way to rid your driveway of ice in 15 minutes. But it has a big disadvantage: It damages the root of plants nearby.

Using salt-free de-icers eliminates this problem. However, salt-free de-icers have their own disadvantages. Generally, they are more expensive than plain old rock salt. A fifty pound bag of calcium chloride pellets sets you back about $ 16.00. Rock salt is only about a tenth of that for 50 pounds. Magnesium chloride does not harm plants, pets and humans as much. But it is expensive. And can damage masonry. Calcium chloride is not harmful but expensive. It also can leave white shoe prints on inside floors.

There are other salt-free de-icers than can make clearing a driveway easier. But all are more expensive than the traditional rock salt. So, we are back to the back-breaking task of snow shoveling? No, not necessarily.

There is a better solution that is also much easier on you: Leave the snow shoveling to someone else. Leave it to a professional snow and ice removal service. They plow snow from sidewalks and driveways. They also haul it away if you have more snow than space.