As the mid-Atlantic region is always bustling with construction in Washington DC, through Baltimore and Maryland, and even parts of Virginia and Delaware, that construction will cause a big dusty mess. It’s inevitable and might seem uncontrollable, but that’s not the case at all.
You can implement numerous steps with the right type of service provider offering dust control services. Construction sites are filled with debris that combines with other elements and can produce toxic air constantly being breathed in by construction workers and nearby pedestrians.
Some might say that all construction workers need to do is simply wear filtration masks, but even those don’t work well as the debris gets crushed into finer and finer particles that can sometimes bypass even the best filtration masks out there. Dust control services are a great way to reduce these health risks, keep workers at the site around the clock, and get the job done faster.
That means this investment into dust control services in the local mid-Atlantic region will actually end up saving costs from the construction as the work will be able to be finished faster, instead of waiting for the dust to literally settle before resuming work.
What additional damage does dust cause on construction sites?
Without proper dust control, not only will the air quality get worse at the site, but the roads that lead in and out the site will start to degrade and erode quickly. There’s a lot of heavy machinery with oversized tires going in and out of the site so keeping the surface solid and strong is vital.
This machinery is impacting not only the dirt roads with potholes and making them uneven, but then bringing all that dirt and debris onto the open paved roads, which already adds to the toxic road dust that comes from normal driving conditions. This issue simply adds to the overall problem, making finding the correct type of dust control teams for construction sites even more important.
Why water doesn’t provide the best dust control
A lot of information out there will suggest that you should use water for dust control. Sure, if you’re ready to cause considerable water waste and other factors. Water needs to be continuously applied even in the humid mid-Atlantic climate, as it will eventually dry.
As construction is constantly shifting, dryer dirt may surface and replace the wet dirt that keeps a protective layer to prevent dust from rising up. To add to the overall damage caused by constant water usage, if the construction site is happening near water systems, it can cause sediment to leak into the water systems and cause erosion of the natural ecosystem.
Another common idea is to do some form of tillage, where the soil is moved and turned in a specific direction to increase wind resistance and eliminate the moving of dust. That would only work in situations where there wasn’t constant movement and motion that is commonly found on such construction sites. Plus, if the area isn’t flat, then it really defeats the entire purpose from the get-go.
How Rasevic can help with dust control
Science works really well here, and snow removal service providers like Rasevic have a handle supply of chloride-based products. Whether it’s Magnesium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, or the strongest of the group, Calcium Chloride rock salts, you can utilize all of these as an excellent means of dust control. These will retain that moisture that’s on the dirt roads and maintain it.
That means you’ve got yourself an easy road to drive on, while at the same time it stays compact and contained, as a protective layer forms on the topmost layer that keeps the rest of the dust from going all over the place. This measure is an easy solution to implement with professional dust control services and is the main line of attack in dust management.
It’s also an extremely cost-effective solution, while at the same time won’t cause any damage because, in the end, it’s a construction site. When the construction is finished, the dirt roads can be swept up by trucks and cleaned up to remove the chloride-based products and dispose of them properly.
Some non-salt related polymers can be placed that will form a crust layer that will essentially be a makeshift paved road. These are wetted and mixed in with the dirt to combine this new layer that will help with dust control. Keep in mind that a proper dust control provider should know that you need to eventually schedule this polymer to be removed from the construction site for disposal as well.
Another excellent service that helps a lot with dust control is placing stone and gravel on the main roadways used in a construction site. The stones themselves help add an insulating layer against dust rising up into the air. However, they require a bit of maintenance depending on exactly how often those roads are used and how long construction will go on for.
They must be monitored as the stone and gravel can start to grind down under constant usage, causing minor dust fluctuations. This will, of course, be much less than purely open dirt roads, and professional dust controls service providers know to manage and maintain this on a regular basis.
A final way to set up dust controls services is with the proper implementation of wind-blocking barriers to control how often the dust is moved around. Keep in mind that this alone is not enough to block out the dust, but in conjunction with other methods, it adds a robust supportive measure against the dust battle.
All about safety
Don’t overthink the positives that come with proper dust control management. Yes, there are cost savings that you can discover, but it’s really coming down to the health of those on-site workers all day long and breathing in all that debris into their lungs and keeping road surfaces solid for smoother transportation less damage to vehicles. A few simple treatments by professionals like Rasevic helps to avoid those things, so it’s worth giving some deep consideration to professional dust control services. Contact us to get a quote!
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