Should I Sand or Salt my Driveway and Walks in the Winter?

There are many pros and cons to using sand or salt on your driveway. Find out which one best suits your needs.

We get this as a common question and it is not an easy answer. Like a lot of things in life, there are pros and cons to applying sand or salt to your driveway.

Cons

• Doesn’t melt ice mostly just traction
• May track inside and is messy

City of Fargo will do an 80% sand and 20% salt mix often of streets to get some melting power with use of a salt and also some traction with sand.

City will also use other de icing products on the streets when temps allow (warm enough) to help reduce ice and to street and thus reduces icy spots before they could happen.

The downside is this ends up on your car and your tires so you will end up tracking onto your driveway and in your garage whether you like it or not.

Deicing products are another option that can be used by you on your driveways or walks and these products also have pros and cons.

Cons

• Corrosive to concrete especially new concrete.
• Will likely kill grass alongside areas it’s applied
• Can track inside and can cause issues with flooring

There are all types of deicing products sold and they will achieve to some degree different results but for the most part, the above pros and cons apply.

The reality is most people choose to stay away from using deicing products unless they have had someone fall or fear it happening because of the heavy foot traffic on their property.

The decision really depends on which pros and cons are more important to you.