Snow shoveling 2026: I did it wrong

[Anonymous]

Just got back in after chopping/shoveling my walkway/steps, which were totally covered by thick/hard snow. This was my third time shoveling. I did this totally wrong and am annoyed:

Bought two 25-lb bags of snow melt on Thursday. Salted steps, sidewalk, back deck Friday night. Snow starts overnight Sat. Sunday morning shoveled/cleared all areas. Salted again. Went out and did a mini-shovel Sun afternoon. Woke up this morning and it’s like I never touched anything, which is just accumulation, I get. But the snowpack this morning was so hard I had to chop through it with my shovel to break it up to shovel. I’m also now out of salt.

Did I prep too early? I’m a new homeowner fwiw so help me do this better next year! Thank you!

- Now inside and grumbling into my coffee

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you did anything. The sleet/freezing rain is just tough.

[Anonymous]

Yes you prepped too early. Putting down salt that snow and ice were going to cover was pointless.

[Anonymous]

Salt doesn't work when its really cold. But you were right to shovel multiple times. It would be even worse if you were trying to do it all at once. This amount of sleet/ice is just really hard to deal with. Its going to be a rough week with no melting.

[Anonymous]

Ok good to know, I felt like an idiot when I got up this morning, and it looked like I had never shoveled and all my neighbors’ walks were cleared already. I salted early because I was afraid that there would be too much accumulation and it would freeze to the ground, and I wouldn’t be able to shovel it at all. I’m a hospital worker and so my shifts are 12 hours: I was worried about what I would come home and find. But duly noted. Pretty sure there’s nowhere to get ice melt now so I’m totally out and crossing fingers since it will be cold this week.

[Anonymous]

Shoveling multiple times was good but you didn't need to salt anything. You were going to shovel it all up.

Only use salt in cases when the snow is over, you have shoveled and you are worried there is a little left and you are going to slip the next day or you need a little help to get the rest to break up. Don't use it ahead of time when it is going to melt the snow and cause it to turn into water and then ice faster or if you are going to shovel it up.

[Anonymous]

There was really no good option. Spring will come

[Anonymous]

There was no win-win for this one, OP.

Here's the gist:

1. Use the appropriate salt chemical for appropriate temperatures. It's too cold for pet-friendly crystals You have to use sodium chloride, effective until 15F (and we're mostly at that temp), or the more toxic calcium chloride (effective until well below 0F). You can use coarse sand for traction.

2. If more than a couple of inches are in the forecast, you never salt beforehand, since salt cannot melt tons of snow. You salt right after shoveling, and by shoveling, I mean when you hit pavement, so they don't become icy when snow melt refreezes.

3. When conditions are difficult like yesterday, it's better to shovel a little portion at a time and salt that, before going on to the next portion.

4. But here precipitation lasted 20hrs or so, with fast accumulation at times. If you went out at the wrong time, it was impossible to get to bare pavement and salt.

5. So you need to adapt to the event you have, carefully listen to last minute forecasts by actual met offices (not random influencers on social media) and have a stock of everything early in winter just in case.

6. For this storm, many chose not to shovel at all. If you know you need to get out right after the storm, you park your car at the very edge of your driveway, shovel what you can, salt if you get to bare pavement, or put down sand, and don't forget to clean the roof of your car. If you have sidewalks, you must legally clear them, but lots of people don't.

[Anonymous]

Michigander here. This was a very difficult storm for shoveling. If you missed the Sunday am shovel, you were toast, but most people woudn't know that.

I did a light salt layer day before. Out early to shovel Sunday morning when snow was soft and fluffy (still a lot of it). And then two other shovels throughout the day. 2 inches of a sleet layer feels like 6-8 in snow. It's so flipping heavy.

I've lived here 10+ yrs now. The sleet is unusual but so is the week of no thaw after. Up north, you have to make your plan for weeks at a time. Here, it's not usually that critical, because it melts off once we warm back up. Just not happening this time.

TLDR: Midwesterners grant you grace, this storm was tough to get right!

[Anonymous]

We didn't put down salt first and we didn't shovel until this morning.

There was a hard 3'' layer of crust on the top, which was hard to break through and really heavy.

My method was to crouch down and physically chunk off huge pieces of the crust and heave it to the side of the driveway. Like pizza box sized chunks. I'd do that for 10 linear feet or so for the whole driveway then shovel the soft snow underneath. I feel ok now, but we'll see how my back feels tomorrow. My forearms aren't buff enough to shovel the heavy stuff. My DH did ok with shoveling it all in one swoop though, and he's finishing while I'm on calls.

[Anonymous]

10:28 again and if it makes you feel better, we are from a northern state with lots of snow. We didn't use ice melt and shoveled lots yesterday, but not late enough. We woke up to our driveway and cars covered and a plow made a hard ridge at the end. It is so hard now. I am also grumbling in my coffee and haven't had the energy to go break it all up again. We also have jobs that we have to get out to later tonight or tomorrow.

So don't be hard on yourself!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes you prepped too early. Putting down salt that snow and ice were going to cover was pointless.

Wrong, if it’s the right salt it prevents accumulation from fusing to surface.
What salt did you use? Hope it’s calcium chloride.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was no win-win for this one, OP.

Here's the gist:

1. Use the appropriate salt chemical for appropriate temperatures. It's too cold for pet-friendly crystals You have to use sodium chloride, effective until 15F (and we're mostly at that temp), or the more toxic calcium chloride (effective until well below 0F). You can use coarse sand for traction.

2. If more than a couple of inches are in the forecast, you never salt beforehand, since salt cannot melt tons of snow. You salt right after shoveling, and by shoveling, I mean when you hit pavement, so they don't become icy when snow melt refreezes.

3. When conditions are difficult like yesterday, it's better to shovel a little portion at a time and salt that, before going on to the next portion.

4. But here precipitation lasted 20hrs or so, with fast accumulation at times. If you went out at the wrong time, it was impossible to get to bare pavement and salt.

5. So you need to adapt to the event you have, carefully listen to last minute forecasts by actual met offices (not random influencers on social media) and have a stock of everything early in winter just in case.

6. For this storm, many chose not to shovel at all. If you know you need to get out right after the storm, you park your car at the very edge of your driveway, shovel what you can, salt if you get to bare pavement, or put down sand, and don't forget to clean the roof of your car. If you have sidewalks, you must legally clear them, but lots of people don't.

#6 would never work because the plow would either demolish your car or plow a wall of snow and ice right up to it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok good to know, I felt like an idiot when I got up this morning, and it looked like I had never shoveled and all my neighbors’ walks were cleared already. I salted early because I was afraid that there would be too much accumulation and it would freeze to the ground, and I wouldn’t be able to shovel it at all. I’m a hospital worker and so my shifts are 12 hours: I was worried about what I would come home and find. But duly noted. Pretty sure there’s nowhere to get ice melt now so I’m totally out and crossing fingers since it will be cold this week.

Ick. It's unlike other DMV storms. When the city/county's sand truck comes by, they dump a whole lotta sand on the roads. Go get some of that from the road if you can safely get to the road and spread it on your sidewalk if you have a sidewalk. Patience.

[Anonymous]

We put down ice melt on our wooden stairs, which helped a lot. It didn't make a huge difference on our pavement. I think shoveling early Sunday was good or otherwise leave it all to the end (I did the latter). Clearing after the sleet started just gives you ice on the ground.

It's going to take me all day to shovel, working in stages, but it's coming up easy with no ice underneath.