(no subject)

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

So due to yesterday's Slush Storm, my car's wheels are surrounded, and in places, encased in ice.

Has anyone had any good solutions to this problem?


EDIT: Where can I find rock salt within walking distance from the Davis to Powderhouse Route?

Comments

[ron_newman]

An axe?

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you mewant this as a joke, but LOL! I'd like ot take an axe to a few ice-encased things myself right now.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

Sadly my tool chest mostly includes normal apartment dweller equipment and a shovel. I might be able to convince my neighbor to lend me one of those ice breaker rods..

[kpht.livejournal.com]

public transit or taxi?

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I'm going to need to use my car at some point before the end of negative degree weather. I don't use it for getting to work, but I do use it a fair amount to get me to and from rural NH, where no sane person takes a taxi and public transit mostly involves the equipment one is born with...

[kpht.livejournal.com]

awww, boo, that stinks.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

a heat source?

[agnosticoracle.livejournal.com]

For the ice that is actually on your wheels you might try a hammer to fracture it. Obviously strike towards the rubber tires to avoid denting your car.

For the ice surrounding but not necessarily on your car you probably need one of those ice breakers (thick blade on a shovel like handle). I tried to buy one of those last weekend but failed to find anyone who had them in stock. So I'm no really help on that problem.

[ron_newman]

Would this work? Hold a screwdriver at 90 degrees to the ice you want to break, then hit the top of the screwdriver with a hammer.

Primitive Man b/w/ Ron Newman

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

Ah, Ronnie....

Re: Primitive Man b/w/ Ron Newman

[ron_newman]

what's "b/w"? (black and white?)

Re: Primitive Man b/w/ Ron Newman

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

To use middle aged folks, it means "backed with," usually used to refer to vinyl 45s, e.g., Paperback Writer b/w Rain. Though I don't really see you as the B side of "Primitive Man" (which I do, in fact, have on vinyl, albeit on an LP).

[agnosticoracle.livejournal.com]

It will work. How well it will work will depend upon the crystal structure of the ice. The more it is like a sheet of clear ice the better it will work. The more it is like compressed slush the worse it will work.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

It's of course more like compressed slush. but I'll try this when I get home.

[gwodder.livejournal.com]

Yes. Use a hammer. Smash off that ice. Then smash the top layer of what's on the ground and shovel it away. If you have time, salt it thoroughly first, why not?

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

boiling water? (probably as a last resort. i don't know how effective it would be on a ginormous solid slab of ice.)

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

Trying to avoid the hot water as my car's parked about as far as it could be from my house on my road..

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

If it doesn't work immediately, it will make the problem worse.

[uberjay.livejournal.com]

Well, I wouldn't say this was a good solution, since it took 3 hours... I just extracted my car from the most horrible ice I've ever had to remove. Ugh. I actually used a combination of hot water (big pots of it from the faucet) and way too much time with an ice chipper.

That was very unpleasant.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Whack it with heavy stuff, and then shovel it away. Or apply large quantities of salt and wait. If you're mostly free but still stuck, you can use sand or boards to roll on top of it.

You could find some burly young men and pay them to free your car, it worked for me once.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

"burly young men and pay them to free your car"

I like this plan. hmm..

[inkscarred.livejournal.com]

Turn your car on and let it run so that it might start to melt the ice around it. Then go at it with a pointy shovel (one for digging in the ground, a snow shovel probably wont work.) I spent several hours doing this last night and was finally able to remove my car from where it had been plowed in and encased by ice.

[racerboy339.livejournal.com]

second this. If you leave the car on while your beating the ice with a shovel, it'll slowly melt (faster than if you left it to just sit there and wait for spring) and brake apart.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I intend to turn the car on.. it also means I don't have to scrape the ice off the windows quite so much. I opened the car last night and brushed off the worst of the "snow" so it wouldn't be quite so bad today.. but I really should have driven it out of the slush and put it in Alewife or somewhere dry. but it was cold and I had just walked home from Davis and didn't want to do it again. Laziness is always paid back in sweat and tears.

[inahandbasket]

mix up a batch of salt and warm water, with enough salt that it's just about gooey.
Apply liberally to the area of ice around your wheels.
Go back inside and stay warm for an hour.
Go back out with a shovel and have at it.

repeat as necessary.

[joylewis.livejournal.com]

ooh, good advice. I'll be using this myself tonight as I try to make it to an exam on time. Thanks!

[inahandbasket]

not sure that it's the best method for a fast extraction, you may just need brute force.

[foxalbers.livejournal.com]

My solution this morning was mostly to pout and cry, but what I found most successful was...uh... having some neighbor dude help with a chisel.

After getting out of the driveway, I promptly got caught in the refrozen slushbank in front of the driveway. This time, thankfully, I was blocking traffic, so extra upset drivers stopped by to help push!

[dreamgirly19.livejournal.com]

Last night we ran out of salt...drove to Home Depot in Somerville and had them tell us they had been out all day, the Home Depot in Everett and Chelsea is all out too. We then drove to K-Mart and we luckily grabbed the last two bags :(

Try calling Walgreens on Broadway maybe? Or CVS on Mass Ave? Or the Tags hardware store in Porter OR the Shaws there?

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

we need someone to air drop in some shipments to the davis area.. *grin*

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Yeah, calling ahead would be key. Even midevening yesterday, people were pretty sold out...

[billharnois.livejournal.com]

Not only is there ice around my tires, but there is an entire snowbank around my car that was created by the plows. And the snowbank is completely frozen now. So not only do I have to get the ice off my car, but I have to somehow remove the impossible snowbank. I only have a plastic shovel. Working from home was my solution.

Anyone know where to get one of those ice breaker things and/or a heavy duty shovel?

How many days until it's nice enough out to melt this stuff?

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

It's supposed to break freezing again on Saturday.

[ah42.livejournal.com]

A better question is: How many days until they ticket you for not moving your car after the storm?

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

The rule is 48 hours.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Try Tags in Porter to buy an ice breaker? They're pretty good at stocking things that are actually needed.

easy solution

[siliconwafer.livejournal.com]

There is a simple preventative solution for this problem: Park your car at Alewife! Last night, after coming home from work, I noticed that my only option was to park in standing water, which was going to surely freeze. So I drove to Alewife. $5 for 24 hours. Take the T there in the morning, pick up your car. Twenty minutes total for me, and it probably saved me hours.

Re: easy solution

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

Oh, I quite agree. This had been my plan all along.. but my roommate told me I was being silly and shouldn't worry and that I would just be walking home for a second time in the cold for no good reason.. I'm never ever listening to her again. As soon as I get my car out of the ice, it is going straight to either Alewife or my parents house in NH until our road gets cleared enough that it won't just get restuck... (the whole street is solid ice about 3 inches thick.. it's a mess...)

[rhean.livejournal.com]

I don't know if they'll have any at this point, but I've gotten salt from the Dollar Store on Elm Street in the past. Tags (in Porter) had plenty Tuesday night, but I haven't been by again since.

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

Has anyone actually been ticked after an ice storm? You'd think they would be a little more lenient...Now I'm all iced in AND paranoid. Although if Somerville wants to tow my car, they're welcome to it ;)

[rainbow-spork.livejournal.com]

I was totally thinking that today... if they tow my car, that would pretty much solve my problem, and i'd be happy to pay for it.

[foxalbers.livejournal.com]

Someone on my street parked in a very awkward manner (because of the giant frozen ice banks that the plows caused) and they had a ticket on their windshield as I was driving by this morning.

Not quite the same thing, I realize, but....it's not like the cold weather and awkward parking is thawing the hearts of Somerville's finest.

salt

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

This may be a little late, but it sounds as if the City of Cambridge supplies free salt to its residents. Here is what I found on their website:

Where can I get salt?
Locations for Salt Barrels
Fire Departments
Engine 1 Headquarters on Broadway
Engine 2 Lafayette Street
Engine 3 Cambridge Street
Engine 4 Mass Avenue @ Blake Street
Engine 5 Inman Square
Engine 6 River Street
Engine 8 Smith Place & Fawcett Street (Temporary)
and Taylor Square at Garden & Sherman Streets
Engine 9 Lexington Avenue

Libraries
Concord Avenue 245 Concord Avenue
Mt. Auburn 64 Aberdeen Avenue
Heritage Branch 48 Sixth Street
North Cambridge 70 Rindge Avenue
Central Square 45 Pearl Street
East Cambridge 826 Cambridge Street
CRLS High School 449 Broadway

Other Locations
Windsor Health Clinic 105 Windsor Street
Area IV Youth Center 243 Harvard Street
Banneker School Sargent Street (Driveway)
Immaculate Conception Church Alewife Brook Parkway (Driveway)
Police Department 5 Western Avenue
Sleeper Park Cedar & Norris Streets
Cambridge Hospital 1493 Cambridge Street
Cambridge Cemetery 76 Coolidge Avenue
Public Works Department 147 Hampshire Street
Danehy Park Parking Lot Sherman Street
Lenny Russell Bridge Huron Avenue at Aberdeen Avenue
East End House 109 Spring Street
Salt barrels are also located in all municipal parking lots in the City.

Re: salt

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. Thank you!