The first step to making use of deicing salt is to understand the properties of ice and snow. Ice is a solid, opaque substance that forms from water vapor when temperatures exceed 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Snow is a fluffy substance that forms from water vapor when temperatures are below freezing.
Ice does not melt until it reaches subzero temperatures, but snow will melt at any temperature above freezing. This means that if you want to use deicing salt on your property, you need to be sure it will be safe in temperatures above freezing.
The next step is to determine how much deicing salt you need from the deicing salt suppliers. The amount depends on how much ice and snow you expect and how much time you have before the temperature drops below freezing again.
If you only have a few flakes in the air or only need to remove a few inches of snow, then a bag of granular deicing salt will do the trick. If there’s more than an inch of snow on your driveway, you’ll probably want something like an ice melter that can melt up to three inches of snow per bag or bucket full.