By: Scott Bentley | C&G Newspapers | Published February 25, 2026
METRO DETROIT — The winter months in metro Detroit not only provide snow and cold weather, but they also come with an abundance of salt that needs to be removed.
While salt is a staple during this time of the year and is helpful in making roads and sidewalks usable, it’s just as important to remove salt from pavement once it’s done its job.
“You can use salt, but if there’s any excess salt, you have to remove it,” said Jeff Rothenberg, owner of JLR Brick Pavers & Landscaping. “It’s when the salt just sits there after its melted the ice … then it has nothing to do but eat through whatever it’s on.”
Rothenberg has over 25 years of experience in the landscaping and paving industry, and every spring his company gets a flurry of calls asking to repair damage that salt has done. If the rock salt is visible, it’s a necessity to make sure it’s washed away so it doesn’t cause damage.
“I just went to (a client’s) house. … I installed the steps and her porch like 10 years ago, and she was wondering what happened to it, and you can just see all of the excess salt on there,” Rothenberg said. “It’s eating it away. … It’s not bad that (the client) salted; it’s bad that all of this excess had been left there for so long.”
There are steps that homeowners can take to make their concrete last longer and keep salt from damaging their property.
“The salt just eats away at the concrete. Salt is a corrosive material,” Rothenberg said. “If you have concrete or brick pavers or anything like that, you’re supposed to be using calcium chloride mix. … And if you have to use salt, you have to make sure you clean it.”
Salt may be poured outside, but it can be tracked indoors and do damage inside the home as well. Cheryl Arafat is the franchise owner of Home Clean Heroes of Oakland County, and cleaning away salt once the weather breaks has become part of the company’s routine.
“It’s so common. … We just expect it this time of year,” Arafat said. “It’s not good. If this is what it does to cement, you can imagine what it’s doing to your floors.”
What the salt is doing to the floors of homes all over metro Detroit is scratching and damaging, just like the pavement outside. Arafat said that while tile flooring may help slightly, there isn’t any kind of flooring that is foolproof against the damage that salt can cause.
“On the wood floors it just wreaks havoc. It scratches, it creates buildup and it causes damage. … You can also notice right away that it ruins carpet too,” Arafat said. “A lot of people end up throwing their carpets out because it gets that white outside buildup. You either have to wash your carpet or toss your carpet.”
The best thing residents can do to help fight against salt damage in the home is prevent the buildup in the first place. Cleaning once damage becomes visible is helpful, but taking precautions to stop it in the first place will help more than anything else.
“Prevention, prevention prevention. Using a boot tray to put your shoes on, an absorbent mat or even how about taking your shoes off before even coming inside,” Arafat said. “To clean it, you have to dry clean it before… because if you try to wet mop it, you are just making a mess for yourself and you’re having it dissolve and spread into your floors. It will ruin everything. It’s terrible.”
Salt does damage inside and outside the home, which means family pets are exposed to its side effects. It’s important to remember that salt can cause them harm.
“The ice melts and the rock salts that are not labeled ‘pet safe’ contain a lot of chemicals,” Michigan Humane Society Vice President of Veterinary Medicine Dr. Crystal Sapp said. “They contain a lot of chemicals, and those chemicals can allow for irritation of skin or even chemical burnings. … If licked off of a paw or off of fur, it can also cause issues.”
Sapp also highlighted that salt can stick in the fur between paw pads, so it’s important to check your animal’s feet regularly.
While this might sound scary, there are a plethora of products and actions that pet owners can take to protect their furry family members.
“There are pet safe (salts) ... but really the best thing that you can do is use dog boots. Then there’s really no chance that they are coming in contact with that,” Sapp said. “You can also rinse their feet when they come inside — like a little bowl that you dip (their paws) in and wipe them off… There are paw waxes that are made out there to help make sort of a barrier between paw pads and snow or ice.”
For more information on the services mentioned, visit Jlrbrickpavers.com, homecleanheroes.com and michiganhumane.org.