If you live in Michigan and drive, you are more than familiar with road salt. In the winter salt trucks andsnow plowsare a significant presence in your life. They make getting to work, going to the store, and getting home possible even in treacherous weather. There are, however, a number of salt options that most people are unaware of, the best of which is the use of salt brine to remove ice from streets, sidewalks, and parking lots.
Salt is certainly not the only thing applied to roads to make them safer during winter, but unlike sand or gravel,adding salt lowers the freezing pointof any water it contacts, therefore limiting ice build up. If the temperature is below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, however, it does not have the same effect, so areas that battle precipitation and extreme cold dont get much benefit from scattering and spreading rock salt. Thats when sand is actually a better option.
Many municipalities are discovering that there is a better way to apply salt, and that is via salt brine, or any liquid salt mixture, although typically it is a 23 percent solution of road salt in liquid. Salt brine applied before any snow or ice accumulation is more effective at keeping roads cleared because the salt in liquid form begins to work immediately to stop water from turning into ice. By applying salt in this way, up to four times less salt can be used with the same effectiveness, making it both cost effective and overall more environmentally friendly.
Astudy done by the New York State Department of Transportationrevealed that proactive road maintenance strategies like using salt brine before the arrival of snow or ice are being used more and more often by transportation agencies and bolster both the effectiveness and longevity of other maintenance strategies, keeping plowed roads and surfaces safe longer.
PROCARE has long used salt brine for clearing our clients travel and parking spaces for the above reasons and also because it limits salt accumulation and the damage this can cause to vehicles, concrete, landscaping, carpet, and other surfaces. We consider the long term consequences of any chemical we apply on both parking lots and green spaces because our customers need them to both be safe and look good now and later.
PROCARE offers full snow and ice removal services we would be happy to take this part of the work and worry of winter away for you. If you would like more information or a quote for snow management services, contact Dirk at PROCARE today!