I had a neighbor who gave us a trailer load of sand he wanted off his property, we plan to use it this winter. Any good quick storage solutions so it won't freeze up?
Unless it is 100% moisture free right now, you are going to have to keep it from freezing. Should be mixed with minimum 15% salt which helps keep it somewhat loose. I use a 3 ph fertilizer spreader to spread mine. I keep mine in a heated area. If it lumps up due to freezing, it is a pure PITA to use, especially in a spreader.
The best thing I can think is making "hot sand"-mixing salt into it and covering it with a tarp to keep moisture out.
The salt mixed in will still attract h2o so dont expect it to be as dry as backwoods woodpiles Keep it as dry as possible, and in a heated garage if you can. If it clumps badly, use the fel to spread Instead of the pto spreader.
Is your driveway part hill? Over the growing up years (and after), the family home's driveay could be a bit of a challenge if you didn't have a head of steam once you got onto it. Made for some interesting situations backing down every winter since the 90's. We would always use ash form the wood stove, which I'm sure you have also. Stuff is like glue for traction! I can see where trying to keep the sand unfrozen could be a task.
I keep a couple 5 gal buckets full in the garage For a large amount I would find room for a plastic 55 gallon drum I think I have two bags of playground sand left too in there somewhere.
I worked for a stone mason for a winter, so we went through a lot of sand mixing up mortar. We covered up the pile with a tarp, but if temps were below freezing it would be frozen solid after a weekend. We just used a shovel to bust it up and work it until it was loose, it really didn't take that much time until the sand was back to individual grains with just a few tiny clumps.
I use that and some salt mixed in. Keep 5 gallon buckets placed where I can use them. Use lids on the buckets to keep the water out.
We have never had this problem but I would think if it was left outside it would freeze solid. Would storing it in bags in a garage or dry area work so you could just dump it into a spreader?
Remember this problem next summer. We make it a habit every July or August to get out to get dry sand. It might not work well to get it with a back hoe or FEL though because typically the sand gets dry only a few inches down. Yet, it does not take that long to get some 55 gallon drums full of sand even if you have to use 5 gallon buckets to fill then dump into the barrels. We just usually store sand in the barn but sometimes leave a 5 gallon bucket on a porch but keep it covered. Not sure how it would work to put dry sand in a pile then cover it.
big trash cans with lids.. I have a lot of experience sanding my 1/4 mile driveway .. I have a garage but as anyone who has one will tell you they fill up fast.. I also keep 10 5 gallon buckets full in front of my car in garage... each bucket weighs over 55 lbs easy.. 50 gallon of sand does about half my driveway... the town sand shed (we can get it for free) still freezes the top 4 or 5 inches.. really the question comes down to how do you plan on spreading it.. most residential spreaders here won't spread sand the commercial one are heated.. but
