Buying rock salt in bulk is the way to go. When you’re able to order bulk quantities of ice melting materials, you’ll be able to save a significant amount of money while enjoying the peace of mind that all of your needs will be taken care of throughout the entire winter season.
That is, of course, if you were careful when calculating your need for rock salt. NJ and its surrounding areas are known for extremely cold winters and regular precipitation. This means you need to be ready for whatever Mother Nature throws your way – no matter how often she strikes.
How confident are you in your ability to calculate how much rock salt you’ll need to order to get you through the entire winter? This post will walk you through the process of buying rock salt in bulk.
The Importance of Stocking Up
Stocking up on bulk quantities of rock salt is a good idea for several reasons. First, it will help you to save a lot of money per bag, and a lot more money over time.
Secondly, it will make sure that your needs are covered no matter what happens this winter or how long the winter drags on.
While others are forced out into the storm to buy rock salt at the last minute or are stuck without rock salt when stores run out, you can remain comfortably at home with the knowledge that your family is totally covered.
Calculating Rock Salt Needs Per Snowfall
Figuring out how much rock salt you’re going to need to get you through each snowfall or period of precipitation can seem confusing and overwhelming – until you know what’s required of you. In reality, determining how much material you’ll need to protect you against snow and ice is really quite basic and will require minimal effort and mathematical skill.
First, you’ll need to work with a partner to measure your different coverage areas. Typically, NJ homeowners will need to use rock salt on their driveways, front sidewalks, in courtyards and around patios.
Make sure that you measure both the length and the width of your coverage areas to determine the total square footage that will need to be covered with rock salt or other ice melting materials. Here’s where your basic math skills will come into play.
Take the square footage of your coverage areas and multiply it by 3.1. 3.1 is the average amount of pounds of rock salt that a manufacturer will suggest using per square foot of your driveway. In other words, this number (square footage x 3.1) will tell you how many total pounds of rock salt will be needed to take care of your entire property.
This number on its own isn’t good enough for our purposes, though. You need to know how many bags of rock salt you’ll need to invest in. Most bags of rock salt weigh 50 pounds.
This means that you’ll need to divide the total pounds of rock salt required by 50 in order to see how many bags you should order. Take a look at the amount of bags that you’ll need to cover your property.
Keep in mind, first, that this number will only cover you for one or two snowfalls, depending on how closely they fall together. This is because rock salt is generally only effective for 24 hours. You will need to plan on purchasing enough to cover you for multiple storms throughout the winter season.
Keep in mind, too that suppliers generally sell their rock salt by the bag, pallet or truckload. You’ll find that the average is 48 bags to a pallet and 18 pallets to a truckload. If you need more than 48 bags of rock salt to cover your needs, then, you’ll be best served by purchasing your materials in bulk.
Anticipating Local Weather Patterns
As mentioned previously, you’ll need to buy enough rock salt to take care of you throughout multiple weather storms. Typically, an NJ winter experiences 30 or more days of precipitation throughout the winter months.
Be aware of the temperatures to determine when freezing weather will cause this precipitation to freeze and create problems with snow and ice that will need to be addressed by the use of rock salt.
Proper Usage
Throughout the years, we’ve seen it all. Some of our customers come in complaining that their rock salt isn’t working properly and it’s discovered that they weren’t applying enough material to their paved surfaces.
Others will become frustrated that they’re having to buy more rock salt than they originally anticipated and it’s found that they were over-spreading the ice melt throughout their properties. Either case can be very irritating and and detract from your user experience.
It’s important, then, that you take the time to review manufacturer instructions before working with your rock salt or other ice melting product. The manufacturer will tell you exactly how much material should be spread per square foot (or other unit of measurement) across your driveway, sidewalk or other surface.
While we use 3.1 pounds per square foot as a general rule of thumb, this is not an exact science and you will need to make sure that this is the appropriate quality for the type of material you’ve chosen to work with. Remember, too, that calculations like these are based upon the assumption that the paved surface has already been shoveled and cleared of snow.
If you haven’t taken this step, more ice melt will be required. Knowing this will help you to maximize your usage of your bulk supply of rock salt so that there are no surprises after you’ve done your calculations.
Proper Storage
Stocking up on bulk quantities of rock salt won’t do you an ounce of good if you don’t store your materials properly. Each year, homeowners accidentally cause damage to their rock salt and deicing products because of improper storage tactics.
Remember that, in order to remain effective, rock salt needs to be kept in an area where temperatures won’t dip below freezing. In addition to this, they need to be kept free from any exposure to moisture.
This means that you should never store rock salt on the floor of a garage or shed where melting snow or ice from outside could flow through cracks or under doorways.
It’s best to keep the rock salt up off of the floor. You may even consider sealing it inside of containers, like empty garbage cans, wherever possible.
Where to Buy Rock Salt in Bulk in NJ
Braen Supply is the best place to go for all of your rock salt and ice melting needs. We sell rock salt in bulk at low, competitive, wholesale rates in order to accommodate our customers.
Our rock salt can be purchased by the bag, but we encourage you to consider buying bulk quantities by the pallet or by the truckload. If you’re not sure how much to purchase, our team of experts is more than happy to help you perform the necessary calculations.
Our rock salt and other de-icing products can be picked up at your convenience or can be bulk delivered to locations throughout parts of NJ, NY, NYC and PA.
