Sidewalk salt

[kees]

With all of the storms that we've had in New York, I've bought many bags of salt. There is a wide discrepancy between the prices. There are also many different types of salt; some claim to be better for your sidewalk; others for your pets, etc. I went to a feed store this morning and the owner stated that I could use water softener salt on the sidewalk. He told me that this kind of salt would work but would just take longer to melt ice and snow. Can you help me to understand all of this?

Suzy
:cool:

[surfflite]

Out here, we only put salt on french fries. :) But I would imagine the soft water salt would work but the chunks are big so it may take a while to dissolve. Any salt should work.

Look at all the snow melt stuff they have, wow I've been away from Chicago too long.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=ice+melting+salt&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=7299056849&ref=pd_sl_7egj9kukh5_b

[KJ]

I hate rock salt. Slow to work, refreezes easy, tracks in and makes a mess.

http://salt-services.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/SSMeltingPointsPoster.310122628.pdf

I usually use one of the last couple on the chart, the Potassium, Magnesium and Calcium Chloride mixes.

[Adamski]

Suzy,

I wouldn't use water softner salt on the ice as someone could get those larger pieces under their feet and fall. That would be a certain lawsuit.