Here’s how to get rid of the ice that’s stuck on your sidewalk

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Idaho Falls ordinance 8-10-8 states a homeowner must remove the snow from the sidewalk within the 24 hour period following the snowfall.

Failing to do so can cause a safety hazard for yourself and others.

Preventing ice from forming on your sidewalk and driveway, doesn’t have to be a difficult task if you stay alert, said Logan Tibbitts, owner of Tibbits Lawn and Snow.

“Knowing when to put the ice melt down and where to put it down,” said Tibbits when talking about an important factor.

For starters, should you pick up a bag of salt or ice melt?

Dennis Garrett at Ace Hardware says it depends on what you're doing.

“When you’re going after clearing up your driveway or sidewalk definitely use ice melt, you don't want to use it too liberally, it actually works really well, just by following the label. Whereas with regular salt, you'd be using a lot more,” Garrett said.

Besides requiring more product, Garrett says salt can damage plants, hurt animal's paws and etch your concrete. Which makes ice melt a safer, more effective option.

As for how and when to put the ice melt down, Tibbits shares his expert technique and tactic, “paying attention to when the snows going to be coming down and just put a little bit of ice melt down before it comes down, so that way when you go to shovel the sidewalks, it comes off a lot easier."

It’s also important to pay attention to different spots in your property that have ice dripping from the roof or gutters which would require more ice melt.

To begin the de-icing, Tibbits says there are tools that will help, “the salt shaker and this is your ice pick and then you can get the big bags of ice melt. For bigger areas that you need to spread ice, you can just use your fertilizer spreader.”

On spots that have heavy ice, Tibbits recommends adding more ice melt. "You're gonna want to put a pretty thick amount of ice melt, to try to break that up. Then you can use your ice pick to try to break that ice free and it's going to come off a lot easier that way for you.”

For icy spots not so tough, a simple sprinkle using the fertilizer tool will do the trick to melt the ice making it easier to shovel off.

A pet-friendly ice melt can be found at stores like Ace Hardware.