How to deal with thick ice

[SpaceBus]

My parking area and driveway, not to mention the plowed dirt road connecting my driveway to the paved road, is covered in inches of ice after yesterday's storm. We managed to keep the snow cleared, but then the rain came. What do I do now? I've never had to deal with this much ice before, and it's not going to go away on its own. If we had gotten the 1-3" of forecasted snow, this wouldn't have been an issue, but we didn't get the snow all morning like forecasted. We currently have about 1,500 lbs of sand and 125 lbs of salt and a 500,000 btu propane torch and some shovels. I know, not the best gear, but we are working on it. A tractor is happening soon, but it probably won't be for a few more weeks.

Please, we need some advice!

Thank you!

 

[PaulOinMA]

What's your forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. Much warmer here. I have an ice scraper/chopper. I would be able to separate large sheets of ice from the driveway and chop them up as soon as it warmed up a little and the ice started to separate from the driveway.

Pretty funny …

Neighbors used to have two large, longhair German shepherds. Thor, the male, was 110 pounds or so. His father was 130. There was an electric fence in their yard. However, the fence wouldn't work when the dogs had their thick winter coat and we had a thick snow pack on the ground getting them away from the wire in the ground.*

Thor loved to come over and play with me. Especially loved running and fetching kindling, if I was outside cutting wood.

I was outside on a sheet of ice on the driveway trying working on getting rid of it. Thor came racing down the driveway, a slight incline towards me.

I had time to think, "this isn't going to end well!"

He ran full speed and started skidding on the ice. Hit me full force, straight on, and took my legs out from under me like a football tackle.

I'm laying on the ground and he's jumping on me with "let's play!"

I'm thinking I just want to lie there for a minute or two.

* The neighbors turned the fence way up. There was a wire by the house to keep the dogs away from plantings. The fence was turned up so high that there was now a room in the corner of the house by the plants that Thor wouldn't go into.

 

[SpaceBus]

What's your forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. Much warmer here. I have an ice scraper/chopper. I would be able to separate large sheets of ice from the driveway and chop them up as soon as it warmed up a little and the ice started to separate from the driveway.

Pretty funny …

Neighbors used to have two large, longhair German shepherds. Thor, the male, was 110 pounds or so. His father was 130. There was an electric fence in their yard. However, the fence wouldn't work when the dogs had their thick winter coat and we had a thick snow pack on the ground getting them away from the wire in the ground.*

Thor loved to come over and play with me. Especially loved running and fetching kindling, if I was outside cutting wood.

I was outside on a sheet of ice on the driveway trying working on getting rid of it. Thor came racing sown the driveway, a slight incline towards me.

I had time to think, "this isn't going to end well!"

He fan full speed and started skidding on the ice. Hit me full force, straight on, and took my legs out from under me like a football tackle.

I'm laying on the ground and he's jumping on me with "let's play!"

I'm thinking I just want to lie there for a minute or two.

* The neighbors turned the fence way up. There was a wire by the house to keep the dogs away from plantings. The fence was turned up so high that there was now a room in the corner of the house by the plants that Thor wouldn't go into.

We have a male GSD, but he's lanky and only 75 lbs. He loves this weather, but finds the ice too slick.

It's not going to warm up here until probably March. We are trying to find someone with a spreader since a plow will do nothing. Is there some sort of raking attachment for a tractor that could break this ice?

 

[PaulOinMA]

I was also thinking that the best way to deal with thick ice is called April.

 

[bholler]

Just lay down a layer of sand on top for traction and leave it. I put down 250 lbs of salt and still have tons of ice. I'm going to spread sand today unless I can get a load of coal ash. That works really well

 

[SpaceBus]

Just lay down a layer of sand on top for traction and leave it. I put down 250 lbs of salt and still have tons of ice. I'm going to spread sand today unless I can get a load of coal ash. That works really well

I figured the best bet is sand and ash. I have several gallons of wood ash we can spread as well, but all of my sand froze solid unfortunately. I might pick up more sand tomorrow since my Dually with MT's can still get out.

 

[bholler]

I figured the best bet is sand and ash. I have several gallons of wood ash we can spread as well, but all of my sand froze solid unfortunately. I might pick up more sand tomorrow since my Dually with MT's can still get out.

Yeah I have some buckets of sand in the shop unfrozen.

 

[zrock]

Mix your sand and salt together and lit it sit a day or 2 then spread the mixture.. You could also contact your local HWY department and see if they would give your drive a sanding for a few $$ or find a local contractor that has a small sand unit

 

[SpaceBus]

Whenever the roads clear up we are going to the town office to find out how to get the sand and/or sand salt mix. We weren't expecting this kind of ice, it doesn't usually rain or have ice like this in January here, at least that's what the locals say. I also didn't know my sand would freeze into 70 lb bricks, and that has put a damper on things. Our town is technically split in half on either side of a body of water with no bridge, so it's a pain to get to the other side of town when the weather is nice, which is why we haven't been to the town office yet. I knew our first winter would be hard, but this is harder than I expected. A tractor is happening as soon as I am able to make it happen.

 

[blades]

If you are looking to bust it up Calcium Chloride will work muck better than standard salt, a ta price of course. There are various mixes of calcium/salt available. straight salt is only good down to apx 15 deg F. calcium chloride will go to the -5F or perhaps more ( i forget all the numbers) There are various acetates the will work also. When I was in the plowing business I had several different materials on hand to chose from depending on conditions, or if customers had pets and the like. Ice control has gotten to be a science in itself. One of the later developments is Beet Juice. some items like straight salt need the sun to start working others like the various chlorides do not.

 

[SpaceBus]

If you are looking to bust it up Calcium Chloride will work muck better than standard salt, a ta price of course. There are various mixes of calcium/salt available. straight salt is only good down to apx 15 deg F. calcium chloride will go to the -5F or perhaps more ( i forget all the numbers) There are various acetates the will work also. When I was in the plowing business I had several different materials on hand to chose from depending on conditions, or if customers had pets and the like. Ice control has gotten to be a science in itself. One of the later developments is Beet Juice. some items like straight salt need the sun to start working others like the various chlorides do not.

Beet juice is surprising, I don't know where we would even get that. The local hardware store sells all of the ice melting materials, but in bags for a person with a 25' paved drive. We have probably 200'+ of gravel driveway leading to a gravel road (which is of little consequence if we can navigate the driveway). Where do you get large quantities of ice melting materials? I can't imagine snow removal professionals buy it in bags from the store.

My wife thinks the world is ending, but I could get my truck to the road if needed. Her car isn't going anywhere, even though it has good tires. Ultimately the road is iced over, so we would rather avoid travel today entirely. I'm definitely investing in some chains for the truck, but they won't fit on her car. A beater is happening next winter as well.

The paved road is a total wreck, I'll get some photos of the driveway next time I go out.

 

[paulnlee]

Ice skates will work, good exercise also

 

[peakbagger]

Lot to be said for a car with studded snow tires on all four wheels mounted on a set of junkyard rims. They will drive you nuts on pavement but when push comes to shove hard to beat.

 

[SpaceBus]

Lot to be said for a car with studded snow tires on all four wheels mounted on set on set of junkyard rims. They will drive you nuts on pavement but when push comes to shove hard to beat.

Ha, we were really torn on studs, I wish I had done it now!

 

[semipro]

Its actually pretty amazing what just a little ash can do for traction. Even a light coat works well.

 

[Hogwildz]

Find a neighbor that burns coal, and ask if you can have some of his coal ash great stuff for icy roads.

 

[Wooden Head]

For melting look for Peladow or Dowflake. These are calcium chloride. Peladow is pellets and Dowflake is a calcium chloride flake. I like the flake because it is easier to spread. A little goes a long way. C.C. works to about -15 while salt is effective to about +20.
For traction sand is great but it must be kept dry when stored. Otherwise, sandcubes. Anything dark like ash spread when sunny is a good natural thawing agent.

 

[festerw]

You'd need a lot of product to melt that much ice. I've been through the same and on dirt chlorides don't do as well as on pavement. Since there's not a non porous surface the brine just soaks into the dirt and stops working as well.

Best cost effective option is to sand it, if you can find some coarse sand that works even better. Once the sun comes out you'll get pock marks in the ice and it'll start to break up. The sand helps make the ice "dirty" so the sun will melt it faster.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Good time to put down a thin layer of 1b Stone. Wont take much and at all to bring traction back. 1b is a great top coat on any gravel road. Sand works too but 1B is so much cheaper and wont wash away like sand.

 

[CaptSpiff]

Where do you get large quantities of ice melting materials? I can't imagine snow removal professionals buy it in bags from the store.

My wife thinks the world is ending,....

1. Google "sand & gravel". If you got a pickup you can ask how much they get for a yard. I usually line the bed with a tarp and stand up a 4'x4' piece of ply wood vertically against the back window, another 4'x4' piece held 45deg inside the tailgate. That's cause my bed is only 6.5' and the Bobcat guy will usually spill a bunch over the tailgate.

2. I got a set of studded WinterForce tires mounted on steel from TireRack. Got me 12 seasons on three different cars. Loved 'em.

 

[Poindexter]

My inclination would be to look at tire chains first.

It _sounds like_ this is a transitory problem and most of the time regular winter tires are adequate for OP's needs.

I do run studs on a second set of rims, but I take call for my local hospital, 1 night in 4 and 1 weekend in 4. Taking an extra 30 minutes to respond to a call because I have to chain up isn't an option for me. OTOH I feel it in my wallet two ways when operating studded tires on well plowed asphalt.

 

[SpaceBus]

My inclination would be to look at tire chains first.

It _sounds like_ this is a transitory problem and most of the time regular winter tires are adequate for OP's needs.

I do run studs on a second set of rims, but I take call for my local hospital, 1 night in 4 and 1 weekend in 4. Taking an extra 30 minutes to respond to a call because I have to chain up isn't an option for me. OTOH I feel it in my wallet two ways when operating studded tires on well plowed asphalt.

Wife's car won't do chains, but we do have a spare set of wheels in NC we are picking up this summer. The dealer I ordered her wheels from for some reason sent us a second set about a month after we moved away from NC. luckily my old land lord snagged them up for me for safe keeping. I'm going to put studded tires on this set of wheels and put them on before storms. Until now her Firestone winter tires have been great. I have a set of Yokohama MTs on my Dually that did just fine on the ice. They aren't really meant for it but they got the job done.

 

[mustash29]

I work at a power plant. We maintain our areas with two F-250's with fisher 8' plows and a Fisher poly sander. We get our salt / sand mix from a local sand and gravel company in 20 ton loads. I can't recall the actual price but it is not that bad, cheaper than topsoil or gravel IIRC, so something like $15-20 per yard.

I have 110' of paved driveway that is one lane wide at the road but 3 lanes wide at the bottom. It has a 10% grade so any amount of ice is super bad because the garage is at the bottom end of the "ski slope." Ice melts destroy the pavement. Sand destroys my hardwood floors because the dogs will track it inside.

My GF had surgery on Thurs. I had to work Sat & Sun so her sis came over to help out. Neither one of them was capable of shoveling the slush off by hand and neither of them felt safe using the JD tractor & plow. Sis was able to scrape a dozen diagonal paths across the driveway that were one shovel width wide. By the time I got home from work Sun evening everything had frozen over, but I had some dry patches to get enough traction so as to not go sliding into the other vehicles and garage doors. Even with the cold temps Mon & Tues the sun was able to hit those clean spots and evaporate most of it. 90% bare pavement already.

 

[peakbagger]

More than few folks with dirt driveways intentionally keep them iced up as the alternative is worse. My friend has a dirt driveway on clay and he intentionally drives on top of the snow to pack it down for the first few storms and only then does he plow the driveway. If he takes it down to dirt if there is warmup (forecasted for tomorrow) it just ruts up and then freezes. .

If this is your first winter in Maine you will soon learn about the 5th season which is mud season.

 

[semipro]

5th season which is mud season.

Which was our whole 2018 in Virginia with about 50% more rain than usual.

I never try to remove ice on our gravel driveway. It makes too much of a mess. Gravel spread over the ice quickly gets embedded and works great for traction. I will remove snow but not at the expense of removing the gravel underneath.