Philly’s Four Seasons Total Landscaping shares essential tips for shoveling and salting your sidewalk

In Philadelphia, residents are supposed to shovel and clear the sidewalk in front of their homes whenever it snows. This is to make sure the sidewalks are usable for all, especially for those with limited mobility. Icy walks translate to icy spills, and that can land you a $50 to $300 fine if you don’t clear your sidewalk.

For those uninitiated to Northeast weather, or who simply don’t clear their sidewalk, you’re going to want to get something to put down on the pavement. Not only will it make your job a lot easier, but it does the job better and makes it safer for passersby than just shoveling.

Who are you going to call when you need advice on snow removal? A landscaping company.

In Philly, we have arguably the most famous landscaping company of all time: Four Seasons Total Landscaping. Yes, the location where Rudy Giuliani, acting on behalf of then-President Donald Trump, mistakenly booked a news conference, instead of the intended location of the Center City Four Seasons hotel, to discuss the (failed) legal challenges to the vote-counting process during the 2020 election.

Not only has the landscaping company become a historical landmark to Philly and national politics, but it is also a landscaping company with more than 30 years of experience in snow removal.

Vice president Mike Sivaro shares his best tips for salting and snow removal in Philadelphia.

While “salting” the sidewalks is most associated with sodium chloride or “rock salt,” there are better products for residential snow and ice removal, according to the experts.

“I recommend a calcium chloride mixture or blend because it breaks ice down easier, it works better, and it melts snow at much lower temperatures,” said Sivaro, who has been in the snow removal business for 15 years.

Calcium chloride pellets are the best, and often come in such colors as blue, pink, and purple. Sivaro doesn’t recommend using classic rock salt, though, as it won’t be as effective as the calcium mixtures. He uses calcium chloride on his residential property, as well.

Calcium products are usually called “blends,” “mixes,” or “shields.”

You can pick up these products at Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, and most hardware stores.

Sometimes that snow and ice are packed in and hard to lift. Sivaro advises not to put your back into it. Let the shovel do the heavy lifting.

“You want to try to get a good shovel that has like a metal edge on it, something that’s easy to use and push. It’ll also last a lot longer, you’ll throw it in your shed and you’ll have it for a long time,” Sivaro said. “Some of the snow shovels have a bend in the handles to help you get leverage to lift the snow. It’s a lot easier on your back.”

The sneaky part of snow and ice maintenance is what happens the night after the first snowfall. People clear and shovel their sidewalk on the morning of the snowfall, then go to work, school, or other obligations.

Overnight, however, any snow or ice left over will freeze and become even more slick the day after.

To prevent this, Sivaro said, just add another layer of salt or calcium chloride to the sidewalk and steps before heading in for the night. Calcium chloride will work better through the night than traditional rock salt.

“The sun comes out and it’ll melt the ice and snow a little bit, but as soon as the temperature starts dropping and the sun goes down, I would recommend maybe throwing a little bit more, as we call ‘product,’ calcium chloride down. You want to definitely keep an eye on it for the next couple days after the snowfall,” Sivaro said.