During the winter months, snow can create an enormous amount of struggle for your driveway due to ice build-up.  You might have attacked your driveway with a shovel, and got rid of most of the snow.  However, once it freezes over you can get stuck with a tremendous amount of ice.  

Ice on your driveway can be extremely dangerous for not only yourself but everyone else in your household along with people who may be visiting your household. Learning the proper techniques of how to melt ice on your driveway, will ensure proper ice removal to keep you safe, along with keeping your vehicles in your driveway safe.  

Should I Just Use Driveway Salt?

Rock salt is extremely effective at melting ice, but if the temperature outside is below 20 degrees, the rock salt won’t be very effective.  On top of that, rock salt is extremely toxic to local plants and animals.  If you ever wonder why your plants near your driveway don’t survive after the winter, the rock salt could be the major reason!  

We recommend finding a pet-safe version of ice melt, which uses Magnesium Chloride which is safe for animals and pets.  Not only that, but it is much more effective at melting snow at lower temperatures. 

DIY Guide to Homemade Ice Melt

If you want to know the best way to make a homemade ice melt for the driveway in a quick pinch.  We recommend grabbing Isopropyl alcohol out of your medicine cabinet and mixing it with water.  We recommend taking a gallon of hot water, mixing it with 2 tablespoons of dish soap, and adding 2 tablespoons of the rubbing alcohol.  

If you give it a good mix and start spreading it onto your driveway, you will see the ice start to melt right before your eyes!  The most important step is to be sure you are using very HOT water because if you only use warm water, it could result in more ice forming on your walkway.  

Staying Safe Walking On an Icy Driveway

If you are unable to get the ice off your driveway effectively, the best thing to do is to make the driveway as safe as possible.  One of the most effective things you can do is add traction and footing to the driveway.  We recommend using either sand or kitty litter on the ice.  This will help create a slip-free surface so you can more effectively walk on the ice.  

You can also start trying to bust up the ice by hand, using a metal shovel.  If you can get a solid metal shove that is used for pulling up grass and dirt, you might be able to chip away at the bigger chunks of ice on the driveway.  You can even attempt to use a crowbar to pluck away at huge chunks of ice.  

At the end of the day, you want to keep yourself and your family safe when venturing out to your vehicle during the snowy winter months, and keeping your driveway safe is almost as important as keeping your vehicle safe.  

Driving during the winter months can be dangerous, and there are a vast amount of things that could go wrong with your vehicle.  That is why we recommend that you equip a DriveSmart protection plan onto your vehicle, to give you and your family peace of mind for the road ahead.