As soon as October comes and goes, winter weather is never far behind. Even now, in December 2022, the cold snap has seen frost on the pavements and roads much earlier in the season than we are used to. And while rock salt is the first line of defense, many people and organisations aren’t sure exactly how much salt is enough. Or how much is too much. Well you’ve come to the right place.
The entire U.K. is sitting on top of salt mines that help us prepare for the winter period each and every year. For example, did you know that the names of some county towns – Middlewich, Northwich and Nantwich to state a few – were named because of their nearby salt mines? The old English term “wich” used to signal that salt-pits were located to that nearby area.
Salt can be bought from many places – such as our Direct365 store – or is distributed by a council or private firm – such as our gritting service. Yet, being prepared means identifying in advance whether you need these services or products. So the big question is…:
Is your business prepared for another heavy winter?
Councils across the UK are already stockpiling grit salt for if and when the temperature decides to drop but councils won’t grit private property or even some certain roads. Their decision is based on how busy and worthwhile it would be to grit a road. Which often leaves our businesses on private industrial areas or down private footpaths. Meaning visitors, customers and employees of your company could be at risk.
Purchasing rock salt for your business to protects people from the danger of slips, trips and falls. But before you buy rock salt, there’s two different types to choose from:
White rock salt which melts ice and snow fast and leaves a clean, safe surface. White rock salt offers a cleaner gritting solution; that leaves minimal residue whilst effectively tackling the ice.
And then there is brown rock salt which is ideal for spreading around paths and pavement. Brown rock salt contains large granules, which is useful when spreading around the workplace because it is visible. It does, however, leave brown residue which can sometimes be trodden into material and surfaces, leaving marks and scuffs on the floor.
Now that you have an idea of the two different salts, we’ll tell you how to avoid over-spending your budget this winter.
How much rock salt do you need?
It’s estimated that you’ll need around 10-15 grams worth of rock salt per m2 (square metre).
This will mean that a bag of salt won’t last you that long in the winter months, and depending on whether you are applying it yourself, could become quite a strain on time and space (if you have to buy more bags at one time!).
What This Means in Real Time
One bag of 23kg rock salt will cover 14-20 car parking spaces over 10 days or 140-200 spaces all at once.
Keep this in mind as you use this reference point for the paths, walkways around your building. So for a winter period you are likely to need a number of bags or even a pallet worth (our Pallet of White De-icing Rock Salt (25kg x 40 Bags) can be found on our website).
For our full range of rock salt and gritting supplies, head on over to our supplies page today.
Or maybe you don’t want to deal with the dispensing of rock salt. We offer a service that takes this right off your hands in a simple, automated format. Avoid the manual labour of de-icing your own premises and rest easy knowing we’ll handle everything before opening hours.
Our forecast driven automated gritting service allows you to choose a temperature you would like our gritters to come, and based on forecasted temperatures, every time the weather hits that temperature, we will grit your premises.
Fill out the form below to find out more about our automated service, or click here to discover more.