Pressure washing costs in Minneapolis

A Minneapolis driveway comes out of winter wearing its salt: white rings on the concrete, gritty stripes by the garage door, a crust along the front walk. The city would rather you used less of it in the first place. Its de-icing guide says to shovel and scrape early and often, before snow turns to ice. Sand gives traction on top of ice. When you do salt, scatter it so the grains sit about 3 inches apart, and only on icy spots, never on bare pavement. A coffee mug, about 8 ounces, covers roughly 150 square feet, or one parking stall.

The reason is the water. The guide says that when snow and ice melt, salt runs through storm drains into the lakes and rivers and pollutes them for good, and that salt is toxic to wildlife. Next door, Golden Valley puts a number on it: one teaspoon of salt makes five gallons of water uninhabitable for most freshwater species. Golden Valley also notes that over-salting doesn't make anyone safer. It damages property and pollutes water.

That makes the order of a spring cleanup simple. The Minneapolis guide's last step is to sweep up leftover salt and save it to use again, and on a driveway that's headed for a wash, that sweep comes before any water does.