Salting and sanding in Ottawa: what goes down on the ice after the snow is cleared

Salt, sand and grit do different jobs

Ottawa Riverkeeper explains that salt dissolves into water and lowers its freezing point, so it works on a cleared surface before ice forms. Sand and gravel give grip on ice already there.

The City of Ottawa makes the same split on streets: dry salt, wet salt and brine early in a storm to keep ice from bonding to asphalt, and abrasive grit in colder temperatures when salt stops working. A company treating your property makes that choice on a smaller scale.

The temperature on the bag

Rock salt is sodium chloride. Per Ottawa Riverkeeper, it starts to lose effect below -7°C and is too weak to bother with below -10°C. The cut-off depends on the kind of salt, so ask which product the crew carries, the lowest temperature on its label, and what goes down when the forecast drops past it.

How Ottawa companies price it

HomeStars’ Ottawa page lists ice management at $90–$180 an hour, or per application by area and materials, and says some services include salting while others charge apart. One east-end firm lists residential salting at $65 + HST per application. Another includes driveway salting with each clearing visit and bills walks and steps at $25 per application.

The price moves with the area treated, the number of steps, the product, how often salt goes down and whether it rides along with clearing or needs its own trip. Full clearing prices are on the snow removal cost page; walk and step shovelling is on the walkway and steps page.

Who decides when salt goes down

One Kanata–Stittsville firm’s terms leave salting, sanding and de-icing out unless named, make the homeowner decide when and how much ice-melting product goes down, and exclude claims from a failure to apply it. HomeStars notes that some Ottawa services include salting and others charge separately. Pick one model and get it in writing: after each clearing, on request, or a set number per season.

Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act puts a duty of reasonable care for visitors on the occupier. Section 6 shields an occupier who acted reasonably in hiring a competent contractor from liability for that contractor’s negligence on that account. Under section 6.1, a snow or ice injury claim needs written notice within 60 days to the occupier or the snow contractor. A clear salt clause shows who was meant to act. The seasonal contract page covers the rest of the agreement.

Concrete, interlock and the lawn edge

NRMCA’s Concrete in Practice 2 links scaling, the flaking of a concrete surface, to freeze-thaw cycles and heavy calcium or sodium chloride on weak or poorly cured concrete. Its advice: keep those salts off new concrete for the first year, use clean sand, then salt sparingly. Ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate, found in fertilizers, attack concrete, and salty water standing on a poorly drained slab worsens damage. For pavers and stamped concrete, see interlock driveways.

Environment and Climate Change Canada says heavy road salt use can damage vegetation and soil organisms, and almost all chloride reaches waterways. Ottawa Riverkeeper’s five-year monitoring found chloride in most local streams above acute toxicity thresholds after winter events. Note shrubs and beds along the walk.

What the quote should list

• The product by name, and what goes down below its working temperature
• Each surface, with the number of steps
• The price per application or per hour, or the season line that covers salt
• When salt goes down, any limit per season and the charge beyond it
• HST and the total

Under Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act, most agreements over $50 must be in writing. A written estimate in the contract caps the final price at 10% above it unless you sign a change, and a contract signed at home has a 10-day cooling-off period.

Who you are dealing with

Ottawa Snow Desk passes your request to one independent local snow company. That company calls you back, prices the salting or sanding and does the work.