Ice Melt and Concrete

We have found that our customers have a lot of questions about how ice melt affects concrete. 

There are 2 types of concrete as it relates to ice melters.  There is new concrete and cured concrete.  Concrete takes about one year to cure.

New concrete(under 1 year old) should not have any ice melt of any kind applied to it.  Greeno Supply recommends that only sand be applied to the areas after they have been cleared of snow and ice.

Cured concrete (1 year and older) can use ice melt blends and other pure ice melts like mag and calcium chlorides that have been approved of as being safe to use on concrete.  The caveat is that the ice melter must be "applied as directed".  This means that the ice melter must be "spread evenly".  If the ice melter is applied by hand then there is a tendency towards clumping of the ice melt.  Therefore, ice melt should ideally be spread using a hand or push spreader.