Kitty Litter instead of Ice Melt -- Disaster!

[Anonymous]

In the lead up to the snowstorm / snowcrete situation, I was unable to get any ice melt. I recalled that kitty litter could be used to gain traction and make your walkways safer after shoveling.

Well... I guess I used the wrong type of litter. It has disintegrated down into a sludge, and even the recent rain is not washing it away. I've tried sweeping - only to spread it more. It's too thin of a layer to shovel off.

Before I further damage my driveway and reputation in the neighborhood, does anyone have suggestions for clearing it away?

[Anonymous]

some genius did this in my apartment complex parking lot

never do this again.

[Anonymous]

That's because you need plain clay kitty litter -- the kind sold at the dollar store. Modern kitty litter is meant to clump up and hide odors and who knows what else. It turns to glue. Get the old kind.

[Anonymous]

Power wash?

[Anonymous]

Do you not own a hose that you can use to wash it?

[Anonymous]

You will have to scrape it or pressure wash it off. Both can be damaging

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's because you need plain clay kitty litter -- the kind sold at the dollar store. Modern kitty litter is meant to clump up and hide odors and who knows what else. It turns to glue. Get the old kind.

Or, just use a small amount of ice melt like every normal person here.

[Anonymous]

Shovel it up and put it in a trash bag.

[Anonymous]

The only reason I know I somehow didn't write the OP is that I don't know the word "snowcrete"

But I did this around early December. Absolutely stupid idea.

I realized it was as bad as people coming into the house as it was going out ... you bring that clay sludge into your cars when you leave, too.

What I did to ameliorate the situation was to deconstruct some large shipping boxes so they could be flattened out and I placed them over the sludge to give people a safe place to walk. Now of course by March with 40 more inches of snow, the boxes are all breaking down themselves, but it did solve the problem of the tracking in-tracking out.

And (fingers crossed) in the spring thaw it will all sort of be rained away/blown away.

I do live more or less in the country, though. I can barely see my neighbors.

I just felt sorry for the delivery people

My bad

[Anonymous]

have you tried a blower? or power washer? today's weather is warm enough to try both. I'd give it a shot.

[Anonymous]

Shop vac?

[Anonymous]

Use a snow shovel.

[Anonymous]

Op, if it makes you feel better at all, ice melt absolutely wrecked our concrete. Next winter, we'll all know better!

[Anonymous]

That is hilarious. Who told you to use kitty litter? It's just clay, the same as our soil out here. All you did was coat your drive with mud. It should easily wash off with a hose sprayer or poser washer. I have a feeling that you should probably hire someone for that job.