Snow shoveling 2026: I did it wrong

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

Don't salt before snow. Go out while still falling fluffy snow and shovel. This removes the bulk that will be heavy later. Once it starts sleet, put down a light layer of salt (you used WAY too much), and then shovel after 2 inches or so. Repeat. If there is some there when you wake up, put out a light layer of salt (get the colored kind, which increases the albedo for sun melting) and wait a few hours for the sun to do its work. Then shovel it off.

Also cover your front steps with towels or cardboard boxes that you can just pick up and drop the snow off.[/quote]

Michigander here, why on earth have I never done this???

[Anonymous]

The mistake people made was throwing down salt BEFORE snow. That ends up melting the first inch or so of snow, but then you end up creating a bunch of slush as more snow piles on, making it insanely heavier and prone to turning into ice.

The correct way is to keep shoveling while it is snowing. Dont let it build up more than 3". After your last shovel when it has stopped snowing, THEN throw down the salt.

If you consistently keep up with it, it won't turn into a solid block of ice. The worst you can do is ignore and walk on it, packing it down. It ends up turning into a sheet of ice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

20-year Michigander. The answer to your question in bold is yes.

You went wrong in using the salt too early. There is no reason to salt pre-emptively when what is going to come out of the sky first is snow. Let it snow, remove as much snow as you can, and if you still have ice on pavement, then salt.

Salt is not a snow remover. It does not prevent snow buildup.

A lot depends on what kidn of snow melt you got, as well. Many of them do not work at all below 20 degrees, and since those are the temps we've had, you won't get much benefit. Calcium chloride works down to zero, but it's not pet-safe.

Finally, in addition to your shovel, you need an ice chopper. That is what you can use to break up the layer of hard snowpack/ice if you don't want to use excessive salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

20-year Michigander. The answer to your question in bold is yes.

You went wrong in using the salt too early. There is no reason to salt pre-emptively when what is going to come out of the sky first is snow. Let it snow, remove as much snow as you can, and if you still have ice on pavement, then salt.

Salt is not a snow remover. It does not prevent snow buildup.

A lot depends on what kidn of snow melt you got, as well. Many of them do not work at all below 20 degrees, and since those are the temps we've had, you won't get much benefit. Calcium chloride works down to zero, but it's not pet-safe.

Finally, in addition to your shovel, you need an ice chopper. That is what you can use to break up the layer of hard snowpack/ice if you don't want to use excessive salt.

Riddle me this. We removed the powdery stuff then the 2-3 inch layer of freezing rain was impossible to remove.
My dad didn't remove the powdery stuff (he's old) and when I went over to shovel, it was easy for the shovel to break through the crust and then I could lift it all away because of the powder! It wasn't easy but #2 was greatly preferable to #1!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

20-year Michigander. The answer to your question in bold is yes.

You went wrong in using the salt too early. There is no reason to salt pre-emptively when what is going to come out of the sky first is snow. Let it snow, remove as much snow as you can, and if you still have ice on pavement, then salt.

Salt is not a snow remover. It does not prevent snow buildup.

A lot depends on what kidn of snow melt you got, as well. Many of them do not work at all below 20 degrees, and since those are the temps we've had, you won't get much benefit. Calcium chloride works down to zero, but it's not pet-safe.

Finally, in addition to your shovel, you need an ice chopper. That is what you can use to break up the layer of hard snowpack/ice if you don't want to use excessive salt.

Riddle me this. We removed the powdery stuff then the 2-3 inch layer of freezing rain was impossible to remove.
My dad didn't remove the powdery stuff (he's old) and when I went over to shovel, it was easy for the shovel to break through the crust and then I could lift it all away because of the powder! It wasn't easy but #2 was greatly preferable to #1!

You're exactly right. You need powdery snow or salt brine under the ice. Salt on top of ice can help, but it needs to dig its way down to the bottom to be useful, and the cold of the weather is, the slower that happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

You always need to shovel early and multiple times. Never wait until the snow has stopped unless it is going to warm up after the snow and you have 2" or less. When you know the temps will stay below freezing for days after, get out and shovel often during the snow.

+1

We shoveled early and often and it was never that bad.

[Anonymous]

VICTORY….After 4 days of trying, I’ve finally removed all the snow and ice from my driveway!!! Cue “Chariots of Fire” theme song!

[Anonymous]

We did it correctly for a change.

1. We lightly put salt everywhere before the snowstorm hit.

2. We decided not to shovel at all and wait for someone to come to dig us out. Once we heard that sleet was going to happen, it solidified our resolve to not shovel at all. We wanted to have a layer of soft snow underneath the ice.

3. We waited for the snowplow to leave a wall of ice and snow in front of our driveway.

4. We paid $100 to 2 men with shovels to clean the walkway, clean the driveway (we had 3 cars on the driveway so not too much digging), and the wall of ice-snow left by the snow-plow.

5. Then we warmed up our cars and let the snow slide off. We put sand and ice melt everywhere then so that it remained melted. Our cars and our driveway and our passage to the street - everything is snow-ice free. Our driveway and path is bone dry.

This is going to be our plan for 'Round 2' this weekend.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been through 60 winters in northern states (Mich, Illinois, & Mass). This obsession you guys have with salt is baffling. You shovel the damn snow. That’s it.

Cities salt the roads, & stores salt the approaches to their doors. Everybody else just shovels, & the important thing is to have a good snow shovel.

[Anonymous]

We actually did it right by accident

Shoveled around 10:30am on Sunday but couldn't get to the bottom before I gave up and went inside.

Shoveled again around 3:30pm and had no clue why the snow was heavy as it was falling (it wasn't snow, it was sleet). Again around 2 inches on the ground before I gave up

Then as I was thinking of postponing the rest to Monday, my spouse said they will complete the rest at 9:30pm and put ice melt after

Woke up to a clean driveway yesterday morning.

If we had followed my initial thoughts and waited till Monday morning it would have been 2 inches of ice that we would have had to clean up.

[Anonymous]

I have 5 different snow shovels for all situations. Powdery snow, icy snow, digging out under cars or small spaces. We were fine with using a snow blower all day Sat and then shoveling and a little ice melt Sunday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VICTORY….After 4 days of trying, I’ve finally removed all the snow and ice from my driveway!!! Cue “Chariots of Fire” theme song!

That’s wonderful!! I’m still struggling. I did all but the plow wall, and I’m not sure I can get over that wall without getting stuck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VICTORY….After 4 days of trying, I’ve finally removed all the snow and ice from my driveway!!! Cue “Chariots of Fire” theme song!

VDOT will be over to plow you in. They tried this morning to plow shut my driveway but the snow was too frozen for the plow.

[Anonymous]

Yes you did it wrong , you hire a team to do this amount

[Anonymous]

I tried shoveling, but the ice is too heavy. No teens or men walking around my neighborhood to pay to shovel. Our roads are packed ice.