Cat litter on ice & snow
Mary Ryan
attention:
I mentioned to a friend that I used sand last winter, and a lot of sand got
tracked into the house. She told me she'd bought a bag of cat litter and
sprinkled it on the ice, and it was a disaster. The stuff turned into a
gluey mud when it got wet, it stuck to their shoes, and got tracked into the
house. It was impossible to clean off their shoes, and very difficult to
clean the brown gunk off the carpets.
I have cats (my friend doesn't) and I suspect she bought the clumping cat
litter instead of the plain old clay kind. So if you are planning to buy
cat litter for traction, make sure the bag does *NOT* say "clumping" or
"scoopable." Get the cheapest stuff, and you'll be okay.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Mary Ryan mr...@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland
Andrew Duane USG/PE
>I mentioned to a friend that I used sand last winter, and a lot of sand got
>tracked into the house. She told me she'd bought a bag of cat litter and
>sprinkled it on the ice, and it was a disaster. The stuff turned into a
>
>I have cats (my friend doesn't) and I suspect she bought the clumping cat
>litter instead of the plain old clay kind. So if you are planning to buy
>cat litter for traction, make sure the bag does *NOT* say "clumping" or
>"scoopable." Get the cheapest stuff, and you'll be okay.
No. Do NOT use any kind of cat litter for traction on ice. This
gluey mess is wet clay, and clay is what most cat litters are made
from. Any cat litter does this. Once it gets wet, it becomes as
slippery as the ice it was supposed to protect against.
Traction sand is $2 for 50 pounds (I just bought some 2 hours ago),
and 50 pounds does a LOT of driveway.
--
Andrew L. Duane (JOT-7) du...@zk3.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation (603)-881-1294
110 Spit Brook Road http://www.zk3.dec.com/~duane
M/S ZKO3-3/U14
Nashua, NH 03062-2698
Only my cat shares my opinions, and she loves cat litter.
David Hunter
: So if you are planning to buy
: cat litter for traction, make sure the bag does *NOT* say "clumping" or
: "scoopable." Get the cheapest stuff, and you'll be okay.
I tried a very basic type of cat litter in a pinch, and it was lousy. First,
it provided minimal traction compared to sand. Second, it did make a mess.
Third, it was smelly, because it was "fresh step" litter or something like
that. (I had been carrying it in my trunk for traction during the sand
shortage days, and one day I got stuck on ice, so I poured it around my
wheels - with no effect, except it made my wheels smell fresh.)
I recommend sand.
David
David G. Hunter
dhu...@ishtar.med.jhu.edu
DKosnett
Last winter, we had dreadful ice storms in the Washington, D.C.
area. One evening we came home to find 1 inch of ice on our
driveway (we slid down sideways when we attempted to climb it).
We went to Lowes, and Giant -- ALL salt was gone, so we bought a
couple of bags of the plain, ordinary Glamour Kitty litter (not
scented). It worked like a charm -- and it dissolved and washed
away when the thaw came (something that sand will not do as
easily). We didn't have a tracking problem (incidentally, salt is
MUCH worse when tracked in), as we always removed our boots and
shoes when we came in.
I now keep a couple of bags in the garage for ice purposes, even
though we use the clumping litter for our 4 cats. Not a bad thing
to keep in the car trunk, either, during the winter months.
tyler g. nally
: I agree. The clumping kind will do nothing but cause a mess.
Heh, heh, wouldn't the clumping kind be realy wonderful if it could soak
all of the moisture of the snow on the driveway into one humongous
"clump". Then you just roll it off the driveway.
Would be a great catalyst for making snowmen. Bwaя, ha, ha, ha, he, he
Tyler
p.s. sorry I got carried away
--
-++++/\++++- Tyler G. Nally - Jack of many trades .________. Excel In Edu
-+++/ \+++- tgn...@firefly.prairienet.org |__. .__|___ ._.________.
-++/ \++- http://www.prairienet.org/~tgnally |__| | . \| |__. .__|
-+/ESPIAL\+- http://cyberzine.org/html/Nally ACADEMY |_|\___| |__|