What's the Difference Between Rock Salt and Calcium Cloride?

Clean Popo has expanded our business to include a wide variety of home services. One of these services is snow removal from sidewalks and from around cars parked throughout Hoboken. When shoveling snow from around cars to give them a path to escape from being trapped in a parking spot there is really no need to use salt, but removing snow from sidewalks is another story...

Although snow might be cleared completely from a certain sidewalk, fluctuations in temperature can cause the remaining snow lining the path to melt and then freeze again on the cleared surface causing a dangerously slippery situation. There are a few solutions to remedy this situation all with varying degrees of cost, effectiveness, and environmental impact. If you are just looking to add some grip to the sidewalk doing so can be done as simply as just spreading a bit of sand or even kitty litter on the icy section of sidewalk. Unfortunately, this does nothing to melt the ice. It does add enough grit to the surface to prevent slips and falls however.

More times than not, sand or cat litter is just not enough and salt has to be liberally applied. Salt not only adds grip to the surface, but it also does something almost magical. It reduces the freezing temperature of water! 

Although there are quite a few varieties of salt available for purchase, rock salt and calcium chloride are the two primary varieties. We recommend only using calcium chloride, NOT rock salt. The below chart of these two chemical's properties is why:

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Rock Salt

• Effective to 15°F (-9°C).
• Melts ice slowly 
• Can harm certain metals and concrete
• Harmful to vegetation
• Harmful to pets and other animals
• Inexpensive 

Calcium Chloride

• Effective to -20°F
• Melts ice quickly 
• Will not harm concrete or other surfaces
• Will not harm vegetation
• Less harmful to pets and other animals
• More expensive than rock salt 

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As you can see, rock salt is not as effective as calcium chloride, especially at very low temperatures. Furthermore, the corrosive properties of rock salt make it destructive to metal containing masonry, plants, pets, and wild animals. 

So what are you going to buy and use the next time a big snow storm comes through Hoboken or Jersey City? Well, it is up to you, but we hands down recommend calcium chloride! 

Another alternative is just to call Clean Popo and have us handle your snow removal and salting requirements. From cleaning, to painting, to snow removal, we do it all!