Winter is wreaking havoc on us! I've seen countless people loading multiple bags of ice melt/salt/calcium chloride or whatever on their walks and drives, and I wonder how bad is this for the environment.
Without doing any research on this in particular, I can recall previous readings describing the massive problem of ground water and soil salinization. Salt kills things. You can use salt and water to sanitize your cutting board. Salt drives away pigments in watercolor painting. So what does it do in the ground after it melts our ice and washes away?
Lots of people are turning to calcium chloride. It is supposed to be better for your concrete walkways. It works faster, and at lower temperatures. But I wonder what calcium ions do in the ground and to vegetation.
This, plus the giant ice dam above my office, makes me think about proper design to protect against water. First off, if your sidewalk wasn't installed properly it has probably settled unevenly. Flat sidewalks require less ice melt as the precipitation disperses more evenly. My sidewalk is a disaster! Then there are stairs. We have old fashioned brick steps in the front, and they have a slight projection at each tread. I noticed that very little salt is required to make these steps safe. It could also be that they are not hollow. The thermal mass seems to help melt precipitation better than the hollow steps out back. If you're in the market for a new sidewalk or set of stairs in the future, keep these things in mind.
The opposite is true for my ice dam. The roof is a fairly low pitch, and I bet there is no insulation in this ceiling. A lot of buildings in the area seem to be under-insulated. You can tell after a snowfall because well-insulated homes will have more snow on the roof. Uninsulated roofs/attics let the heat from your home up, and that melts the snow, but only over your heated spaces. The two feet of roof overhang is still cold so it refreezes the water, which then starts to build up. In my case it is painfully obvious because the addition was not well designed. The roof is sagging under the weight of the ice dam, and since there is a very short header over the door, the screen door is now hitting the bottom of the gutter. Try getting your groceries in when the door won't open more than half way!
Someday we will have to rebuild this addition properly. Again, if you ever have work done on your home or office, periodically take a minute to think about winter. We don't all keep snow and ice in mind during a spring or summer remodeling project.
Take care, and stay dry.
Without doing any research on this in particular, I can recall previous readings describing the massive problem of ground water and soil salinization. Salt kills things. You can use salt and water to sanitize your cutting board. Salt drives away pigments in watercolor painting. So what does it do in the ground after it melts our ice and washes away?
Lots of people are turning to calcium chloride. It is supposed to be better for your concrete walkways. It works faster, and at lower temperatures. But I wonder what calcium ions do in the ground and to vegetation.
This, plus the giant ice dam above my office, makes me think about proper design to protect against water. First off, if your sidewalk wasn't installed properly it has probably settled unevenly. Flat sidewalks require less ice melt as the precipitation disperses more evenly. My sidewalk is a disaster! Then there are stairs. We have old fashioned brick steps in the front, and they have a slight projection at each tread. I noticed that very little salt is required to make these steps safe. It could also be that they are not hollow. The thermal mass seems to help melt precipitation better than the hollow steps out back. If you're in the market for a new sidewalk or set of stairs in the future, keep these things in mind.
The opposite is true for my ice dam. The roof is a fairly low pitch, and I bet there is no insulation in this ceiling. A lot of buildings in the area seem to be under-insulated. You can tell after a snowfall because well-insulated homes will have more snow on the roof. Uninsulated roofs/attics let the heat from your home up, and that melts the snow, but only over your heated spaces. The two feet of roof overhang is still cold so it refreezes the water, which then starts to build up. In my case it is painfully obvious because the addition was not well designed. The roof is sagging under the weight of the ice dam, and since there is a very short header over the door, the screen door is now hitting the bottom of the gutter. Try getting your groceries in when the door won't open more than half way!
Someday we will have to rebuild this addition properly. Again, if you ever have work done on your home or office, periodically take a minute to think about winter. We don't all keep snow and ice in mind during a spring or summer remodeling project.
Take care, and stay dry.
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