# should i presalt?



## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

I have never pre-salted before but was considering if it would be a good idea to pre-salt before the noreaster storm that is going to hit tuesday night. I know temps will be around 34 when it will be raining tuesday around 10 and then start snowing around 12 and by about 3 or 4 it will be below 32, so do you guys think it would be wise to salt before that? also during storms, we dont salt every plow, if it needs it we'll salt after he first plow of the storm and then when its all over.


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## Dogplow Dodge (Jan 23, 2012)

I had never pre-salted prior to last year. One of my customers went out and salted just before the storm, and I will tell you that it made clearing the driveway so much easier. They continued to pre-salt prior to each heavy storm after that...and it worked out very well for me. The day or so following each storm's end, the driveway (blacktop) was clear as a bell from the salt / sunlight taking it back down to dry.

I'm sure that's not true under all circumstances, but it worked very well for that job I did.


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## dstifel (Dec 27, 2012)

I'm not 100% sure but I've always been told with rain pre salt is not effective.


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## aloe (Nov 5, 2011)

I've pretreated with liquid. Made scraping the walks bare a lot easier!!!! I do it on my walks. Not so much my drives & lots


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

hmm dstifel, you make a good point about the rain, Hopefully it wont start snowing hard until a little later in the morning and i could salt it before plowing so that all the ice is gone but isnt wasted cause it wont be raining anymore.


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## aloe (Nov 5, 2011)

dstifel;1895197 said:


> I'm not 100% sure but I've always been told with rain pre salt is not effective.


Yes, I've noticed it halts the effect of the salt


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## xjoedirt55x (Dec 11, 2009)

It is a timing and eyeball thing. You do not want to throw too early just to be washed away by the rain, but pre-salting does wonders.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Salting while raining is wasting time, money and material. 

If you can time it to apply when it switches to snow, it's worth every penny.


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## truckitup (Aug 21, 2011)

I am thinking about doing the same. heavy wet snow, a light pre salt might help preventing some of the hard pack. If you do pre salt you can really cut down on the amount you use, It goes flying everywhere. I just hate pushing all that money a couple hours later.


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## McG_Landscaping (Feb 2, 2011)

Presalting works wonders if your customers are okay with it. The company we sub for allows us to Presalt a lot especially if we're supposed to get snow starting around the morning rush. You can't do it when it's raining so the key is to start right when it's starting to switch over


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Presleeping and predrinking are a must as well.


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

If you preplowed you wouldn't have to presalt,presleep. You could just predrink.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Mr.Markus;1895278 said:


> If you preplowed you wouldn't have to presalt,presleep. You could just predrink.


Thumbs UpThumbs UpThumbs Up


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

McG_Landscaping;1895267 said:


> Presalting works wonders if your customers are okay with it. The company we sub for allows us to Presalt a lot especially if we're supposed to get snow starting around the morning rush. You can't do it when it's raining so the key is to start right when it's starting to switch over


For sure.

We've found that rain to snow transition events that snow really likes to bond to the pavement. Like Mark said, timing is everything. Getting the salt down right as it converts to snow and starts forming a little slush makes things so much easier when we start scraping. If you throw it in the rain, you might as well just light money on fire, that's all the good you're doing.

From what I've seen so far, less than 200 pounds an acre goes a long way on presalt. Even with salt costs where they are it's worth it. I can't plow an acre of lot for 15 bucks. Our seasonal apartment complexes love the presalt service, and so do we when we come through and start scraping.


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## Bossman 92 (Sep 27, 2006)

With our forecast the only thing we can do is pretend it's going to snow


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## KFX450RXC (Sep 6, 2014)

Down here, I pre-salt virtually every event. But we get a lot of sleet and freezing rain, too. 

Primera Turf Quad Release is what is used quite a bit down here so the rains don't wash it away too quick.

I only use push spreaders for salting so pre-salting a bare parking lot is a piece of cake. I can put out 200 lbs. in a parking lot in less than 15 minutes.


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## Derek'sDumpstersInc (Jul 13, 2014)

snowplower1;1895187 said:


> I have never pre-salted before but was considering if it would be a good idea to pre-salt before the noreaster storm that is going to hit tuesday night. I know temps will be around 34 when it will be raining tuesday around 10 and then start snowing around 12 and by about 3 or 4 it will be below 32, so do you guys think it would be wise to salt before that? also during storms, we dont salt every plow, if it needs it we'll salt after he first plow of the storm and then when its all over.


I learned the hard way the first year I plowed, that you absolutely HAVE TO pre-treat for sleet, freezing rain storms. The first storm we got my first year was about 2" of sleet then about 1-2 of snow on top of that. I went out in the middle of the night to start plowing and my plow skimmed right over the top. It was a frozen mess. I had to put salt down, then go to my next account and salt. Had to do my entire route, then back track back to the beginning and plow off what loosened up from the salt and retreat. It was a mess, but I learned never to do that again. I ended up doing some free salt apps and some free plowing to get all my customers taken care of.

As is said above, the trick is to time your pretreatment so that it goes down just as the storm switches from rain to snow, that way you get it down between the pavement and anything that accumulates. That keeps the accumulation from bonding to the pavement, but goes down late enough that it isn't washed away. Hope this helps. Good luck.


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

thanks guys, i think what ill do is just wait till it starts snowing and then put the salt down, go back to sleep and wait to start plowing!


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

derekslawncare;1895334 said:


> I learned the hard way the first year I plowed, that you absolutely HAVE TO pre-treat for sleet, freezing rain storms. The first storm we got my first year was about 2" of sleet then about 1-2 of snow on top of that.


Freezing rain absolutley sucks to deal with...unless you get salt down right as it's starting to freeze. If you try to get through freezing rain ice after it's ice on lots it's a nightmare. If you presalt when it's starting to freeze it's a breeze. You don't have to do anything but drive in a few circles and you're done. Maybe spot salt here and there after that.

Lesson learned the hard way on this several years ago.


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## JTVLandscaping (Jan 1, 2010)

I pre salted this morning. I do it before freezing rain events. It helps but I always have visions of it being completely ice free...which it isn't. Then I get disappointed.


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