Applying Brine To Walks

 Last week I talked to you about our sidewalk brine applicator. We were able to pre-treat a lot of sidewalks before it snowed but the snow we got wasn't what we were hoping for.

 With temps hovering around freezing it decided to dump 1/2" to 3/4" in a short period. Our brine couldn't keep up and from what I've researched it shouldn't have been expected to. Even areas treated with rock salt were snow covered initially. It was just too wet.
 Last week I sprayed a section of our parking lot. The area to the left of the swale was treated and to the right was untreated.

 Maybe if you squint and use your imagination you could say the brine treated side looked better. The fact is that it couldn't keep up with the wet snow. You'll notice the foot prints crossing the two sections. That is where the brine made a huge difference. To the right on the untreated side it was slippery under the snow. On the treated side it was wet and grippy. Thats the part that will make it a safer environment for the customer, and make clean up efforts easier because snow and ice won't bond to the walks even after someone has walked on them. Also, we treated faster than conventional methods using less product. The boss was happy enough with the results that this week we built a truck sprayer/hose reel/nurse tank that I'll show you in a future post. I'm excited to try this again when the temps are colder.

Later.