Preventing Ice
The best solution to keeping ice off of sidewalks and driveways is shoveling snow. As soon as the snow has stopped, shovel and sweep it away as a part of routine home maintenance. Ice on driveways and sidewalks most times comes from people and cars compacting the snow down.
There’s not much you can do about freezing rain. But take advantage of warmer days to clear ice with a metal shovel. It should break it up just enough to make shoveling possible.
Using a Deicer on a Driveway or Sidewalk
There is no one best product when it comes to deicers. And it is tough to evaluate products since there is no law keeping the labels honest. So a company can claim “pet safe” or “yard safe” even though it is no better than most chloride products.