January 28, 2012
Ice and Sand
Here in New England the winters can be most interesting. You discover pretty quickly that ice can form on driveways and sidewalks with little effort.
One of the contributing factors is cold temperatures that cause road, driveway and sidewalks to be BELOW freezing even though the air temperature is ABOVE freezing.
At night, when the temperature drops, the liquid water flowing across the surfaces flash freezes.
Instead of using salt on the ice, sand is highly effective. It provides the needed traction you must have to walk and drive. You can put nice cleats on your boots for foot traction, but sand works well too.
The added advantage of sand is that it help aid melting because of its dark color. It absorbs some of the radiant energy of the sun on those bluebird days we get up here.
The other great advantage of sand is that it's recycled with ease in the spring. You just sweep it up and save it for next winter!
Posted by Tim Carter at January 28, 2012 10:05 AM
