Caring for Your Concrete in Winter Weather

Concrete is one tough, durable building material, and can stand up to all kinds of stress in all kinds of weather. Winter, however, does pose some challenges to concrete. The freezing and thawing process during the very cold, snowy and icy weather can affect concrete’s strength, so mixes are designed for our region to deal with that stress.

But treating icy concrete surfaces with rock salt (called Halite) or calcium chloride de-icing products is damaging to concrete, not to mention harsh on the environment. This de-icing treatment releases very high amounts of chloride ions when it dissolves—chloride can pollute streams, rivers and lakes. A study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS) found the increase rate of chloride levels, caused a great deal by increased road de-icer use, are becoming so high that the effect threatens North America’s available fresh water supply. And it also causes metal to corrode.

 An alternative to rock salt and calcium chloride is magnesium chloride. Magnesium chloride is a de-icing salt that is produced from naturally-occurring minerals in the Great Salt Lake. It works well to melt snow and ice in very cold temperatures and is less damaging to concrete surfaces. And it’s earth-friendly--releasing about 40 percent less chlorides into the environment than either rock salt or calcium chloride. So, magnesium chloride is less toxic to trees, shrubs and plants.

What if you have new concrete? Because it is really beginning gain strength, it’s best to use traction sand, at least for the first winter the concrete experiences.

With a little care and some earth-friendly products used properly, your concrete sidewalks, driveway and patio will stay strong and good-looking for a very long time.