Preventing Rust from Road Salt

Why Salt Is Used on Roads

Human beings can’t live without salt. It’s a necessary nutrient, it’s used to seed rain clouds, soften household tap water, make chemicals and, most important, to make ice cream.

In those parts of the country with freezing winter temperatures, drivers know that warming the cars up in the morning isn’t the only inconvenience. Icy roads are, too. The same chemical reaction between ice and salt that creates creamy, delicious ice cream also keeps our roads and sidewalks free of dangerous ice during the cold winter months.

A salt and sand mixture is frequently spread over roads before or after a snow or ice storm. Salt lowers water’s freezing point, causing any ice already formed to melt even though the air temperature remains well below freezing. The sand helps keep the salt in place, plus it adds a bit of traction to wet and often slushy roads.

While road salting helps people travel safely, it has drawbacks. It can cause major body and undercarriage damage to your vehicles unless you take extra care and precaution.

If you’re one of the many who must travel the saline streets in the land of the ice and snow, we have some great tips to help protect your vehicle from the ravages of road salt.

Plan Ahead

The best time to prevent salt damage to your vehicle is before the first snowflake falls; a little car maintenance will help keep the rust away.

• In late autumn, thoroughly wash every inch of your vehicle, including the underside.
• Apply a meticulous coat of wax, followed by a wax sealant to help keep the wax adhered to the vehicle’s paint.
• Seal the undercarriage, paying closest attention to the brake and fuel lines, as these are the most susceptible items for rust and corrosion and make your vehicle unsafe if they fail. You can buy a product to do this, or you can have it done professionally.

Keep a Clean Machine

Keeping your vehicle as clean as possible during the winter will go a long way to cut down the damage done by salt and sand.

• Take your vehicle to the car wash as often as possible. Many car washes in the “snow belt” offer steam cleaning and undercarriage cleaning as well as traditional car washing.
• Have your car re-waxed and sealed when you have it washed.
• Check out a mobile automobile detailer who can come to your workplace and do several vehicles at once.

At-Home Car Washing Tips

If you can’t get to any of the above, you’ll need to brave washing your car at home. Try these tips.

• Wear a pair of waterproof gloves.
• Begin by spraying down your vehicle using a garden hose equipped with a high-pressure nozzle, moving from top to bottom.
• Be sure to get as much mud and muck from beneath the wheel wells, under the bumpers, behind the fenders and in any other areas prone to salty slush splashes.
• Follow with a warm, bubbly scrub down, using soap made especially for car washing. Dish soap strips your car’s wax. Use a wash mitt or a sponge, never a shop rag, which may have metal bits in it.
• If the vehicle is really salty, add a couple of tablespoons of baking soda to the wash water to help remove and neutralize the salt.
• Don’t neglect to scrub all the rubber, trim, outside door seals, tires, and the wheel covers.
• Rinse thoroughly, making sure to remove all traces of soap.

Dry as a Bone

Don’t stop now! Take the time to finish the job now, and you’ll have less chance of discovering hidden damage after it’s too late. Here are the next steps in the process:

• Carefully dry the edges of the doors inside and out, including the undersides of door handles, all hinges, plus the hood and trunk edges. This helps keep them from freezing shut.
• Use a good quality spray protectant on all exterior rubber or vinyl surfaces. It may be best to spray they applicator you are using instead of spraying the product directly onto the surface. This will avoid any overspray onto the paint.
• After a winter washing, apply an additional coat of wax to all exposed metal, using a hand-held hairdryer to warm the metal surface a bit before applying the wax. Warm your buffing rag, too, to help the wax better adhere to the cold metal.

Beach Buggies Beware

If you live near the ocean―even if it has never, ever snowed in your area―your vehicles may still be under a slower attack by salt. The overspray and salt in the air near the beaches can and do cause their own rust and corrosion problems.

While not nearly as concentrated as the salt used on winter roads, it is important to keep your seaside sedan washed, waxed and inspected regularly for signs of salt damage. The biggest damage areas on beach-dwelling vehicles tend to be the hood, top, and rear deck of the car. Spray settles and dries, leaving a salt coating. Vinyl tops are especially susceptible to deterioration from exposure to salt and sun. Once the vinyl begins to break down, salt spray can accumulate underneath, and may go undetected until it has caused serious damage.

Give your beach mobile a good washing at least once a month, adding a couple of tablespoons of baking soda to the wash water. An alternative, if you are unable to do a full wash that often, is to attach an unused spray attachment (meant to dilute weed killer or fertilizer) filled with water to which a couple of tablespoons of baking soda have been added, to your garden hose. Spray over the susceptible areas with this dilution, followed by a clear water rinse. This will help keep your vehicle sparkling.

Source: http://www.dmv.org/how-to-guides/road-salt.php

How do I know if I have an ice dam? Published by The Boston Globe

What causes ice dams?

Ice dams are ridges of ice that form at the edge of a roof and prevent melting snow from draining. Ice dam problems usually occur after heavy snowfall and several days of freezing temperatures. The past few weeks in Massachusetts have been a perfect storm for ice dams.

Ice dams form as a result of warm air inside your home leaking into the attic and warming the underside of the roof, causing snow and ice to melt. The melted water will drain along the roof, under the snow, until it reaches the cold overhang. The overhang tends to be at the same temperature (below 32 degrees) as the outdoors, and the melted water will refreeze and form icicles and possibly an ice dam.

The draining water hits the ice dam, backs up under the roof shingles, finds cracks and openings in the roofing, and eventually manifests itself as an interior water leak.

Do those giant icicles on my house mean I have an ice dam?

Should people be worried about icicles? They are a part of winter, and pretty, but when the icicles hanging from a house are large (2 to 3-inches or more in diameter), that is a sure sign that ice dams are forming. By the way, large icicles are a byproduct of ice damming, and banging them off your house does little other than risking window breakage and personal injury. Leave them alone unless they are threatening people and property below.

What should I do if I have an ice dam?

Using a roof rake to clear the snow from the first three to four feet along the roof edge is a great way to prevent ice dams. This should be done immediately after it snows. Roof raking eliminates one of the ingredients necessary in an ice dam recipe and is BEST done before the ice dam forms. Roof raking allows the sun to warm the roof edge and melting snow to drain.

What should I do if I have an ice dam leak?

I prefer prevention, but in an emergency situation where water is flowing into your house, you need to remove the ice dams. Steam is by far the safest method and poses the least risk of further damage. Several roofing companies use a steamer method, and, if ice dams are a common problem for you, you’ll want to make sure you’re on their “dance card” early in the season. They book fast.

A steamer uses a home’s water supply, heating it to 300 degrees. The steam is forced through a hose and wand, where it is delivered in a low-pressure stream used to cut through ice. The most efficient way to steam ice off a roof is to cut it into chunks and throw the chunks from the roof.

A true emergency sometimes means you can’t wait for a contractor to use a steamer. In this case, I’ve cut channels through the ice dam to allow the water behind it to drain off the roof. In these situations, I’ve used a hammer claw, or a large chisel, to carve the channels.

Your goal is to allow the roof to drain, and you need to be super careful not to damage the roofing material underneath. Stop chipping when you get close to the roof’s surface. I suggest cutting channels every two to three feet.

Hammers and other impact instruments are commonplace in ice dam removal BUT can result in costly damage. Using a power washer can also do significant damage, so I advise against that.

TIP You can use snow melt or rock salt to keep these channels open. I’ve even filled the legs of nylons with rock salt and placed them in the channels. I’ve seen guys tie long strings to the nylons, so they can retrieve them later without having to climb a ladder. I have to warn you that these chemicals can damage aluminum, copper gutters, flashing, and plants.

Prevention

Unless you enjoy and are good about roof raking, you should look closer at your building to help prevent future issues. Here are a few suggestions for prevention of ice dams:

1. Install a rubberized roofing underlaymentunder your shingles six feet up along the edges, all valleys, and covering all low-pitch areas. This is best done when re-roofing.
2. Increase the attic insulationto cut down on heat loss by conduction. State code requires an R-value of 38 above the ceiling for new homes. In narrow spaces, use insulation products with a high R-value. If your house is older, you can add furring strips to the rafters to create a deeper space for more insulation.
3. Ensure you have adequate gable or soffit-to-ridge ventilation.
4. Reduce heat sources in your atticby sealing the air leaks into it. Sealing air leaks is a topic for another article. Many people think that insulation alone does the job effectively. The truth is that in order to improve the energy-efficiency of your insulation, you need to seal air leaks to prevent heat loss. Insulation works best when air is not moving through or around it. Sealing air leaks is not hard; you just need to know where to look.
5. Avoid complicated roof designsin snowy climates. Complicated roof lines are sexy but create intrinsic problems with ventilation and drainage.
6. A deicing system efficiently reduces ice dam formationalong roof edges and in gutters, providing a path for snow melt to flow off the roof edge or through the downspout. I suggest this to my clients as a last resort and for complicated roof designs and hard-to-rake areas. Roof and gutter deicing cables, or “heating cables,” provide an effective and economical method for draining the roof of snow melt. I also advise my clients against using cheap hardware-store versions. These cables are not “smart systems” and turn on when temperatures reach a certain point, snow or not. To combat this, many people install a light switch to control the cables, and then forget to turn it on or off. Additionally, these cables have a short lifespan and often burn out. Instead, I use a commercial-grade self-regulating heating cable that has sensors to detect snow and ice dam conditions. The system is “smart”; it turns on when it snows and off a few hours after it stops.

Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/real-estate/2015/02/11/how-know-have-ice-dam/SarhBnt2ReqLW9y8ddbD4I/story.html

10 Dangerous Driving Mistakes by: Eric Page

Become a Safer Driver by Avoiding These Bad Driving Habits

Did you know that most auto accidents aren’t accidents at all? Most often, they are the result of driver error or inattention. Don’t make these dangerous driving mistakes.

Speeding – Slow down! Speeding is the most common bad driving habit and when combined with aggression, traffic congestion or driver inattention, it’s a dangerous one.

Stopping Suddenly – Avoid slamming on the brakes; you may catch the driver behind you unaware. Instead, focus ahead in order to anticipate potential hazards.

Running the Yellow – Never speed up when the light changes to yellow. If you have the option of stopping safely, slow down and come to a stop before the intersection.

Making Blind Turns – Always check your blind spot before making a lane change.

Ignoring Conditions – Always adjust your driving to road conditions. Wet or icy roads, poor visibility and heavy rain or snow can seriously impact your ability to steer clear of danger.

Lane Weaving – Drive in a predictable manner. Erratically darting in and out of lanes is a risky maneuver that confuses other drivers and causes collisions.

Failing to Signal – Let other drivers know what you intend to do by signaling your turns and lane changes.

Texting – Never send or read text messages while driving. Despite stricter distracted driving laws, many drivers are still guilty of taking their eyes off the road to check their phones.

Driving Drowsy or Drunk – Make it a rule to never drive drowsy or under the influence.

Tailgating – Make sure to leave enough distance between you and the car in front of you. Proper following distance in good weather is three seconds.

Source: Segreve and Hall Insurance
305 North Main St
Andover, MA 01810