Controlling dust on a construction site is crucial to completing the project on time and mitigating injury risks. Dust is kicked up in disruptive amounts by vehicle and foot traffic during a construction project. This dust pollutes the air and limits visibility for the workers, so you need to have a plan in place to combat dust.
7 Tips for Construction Site Dust Control
There are many different solutions that construction workers implement to try and control dust during a project, so in case you need some ideas, here are some good tips:
1. Water
Spraying water is the most common way that workers deal with dust during a project. By having a water tank on hand that can be used to keep the dust wet and prevent it from rising into the air, workers can mitigate dust at a relatively cheap cost. The downside to this method is that you have to keep spraying the dust when it dries out, which is a time-consuming effort that takes away from your project completion time.
2. Chemicals
There are also certain chemicals you can add to water before you use it for construction site dust control. These chemicals are designed to help bind the dust together and make it even less likely to be kicked up into the air.
These types of chemicals are called palliatives and can potentially pollute nearby groundwater. You also have tackifiers and polymers which both work to modify the soil surface so that it reduces dust by anywhere from 70-80%.
3. Tillage
Tillage is using a plow to roughen up the surface of a dirt area. This method is surprisingly effective at reducing construction site dust, and is capable of a 90% dust reduction. Tillage is rather labor-intensive, though.
4. Mulch
By adding mulch and vegetation to a dirt surface, you can drastically reduce the amount of dust kicked up. This method is cheap, quick, and effective. The mulch must be removed after project completion, however.
5. Barriers
Many workers will move some barriers around the project site in order to block wind from entering. Fences specially designed to block wind, tree lines, and rows of perennial grass all work well at blocking wind.
6. Sweeping
You can also try to sweep the dust away with large brooms and highway sweeping equipment. This is usually used as a last resort dust control method because of the time and effort it takes. It also releases a lot of dust into the air which is counterintuitive to what you’re trying to achieve with dust control in the first place.
7. Gravel
If you aren’t able to secure any vegetation or mulch for your construction site, try gravel instead. Pouring loose gravel over a dirt surface is highly effective at preventing dust from being kicked up. Larger stones generally work better for this purpose.
You could also go the extra mile and install permeable pavers for a permanent dust control solution. TRUEGRID PRO LITE and/or TRUEGRID PRO PLUS pavers are the perfect choice for any construction site. Their durability and dust-suppression capabilities are highly regarded as being the solution for construction projects of any scale.
By installing the pavers before you begin construction, you can eliminate dust from the ground up. You can install them in less than a day in most cases, and they disassemble just as fast after project completion.
TRUEGRID Pavers Eliminate Dust Completely
The easiest way to eliminate dust from a construction project is to remove the entire layer of dirt you’re going to be working on and replace it with gravel-filled permeable pavers. You can transform the area around your project into a 100%-permeable, dust-free zone that improves safety and productivity, and put it all back the way you found it less than a day after project completion.
TRUEGRID pavers are durable enough to handle the weight of a monster truck jumping off a ramp and landing on them without breaking, and that’s before their empty cells have been filled with gravel. This makes them the most durable and reliable choice for construction projects of all shapes and sizes.
They are made from 100%-recycled plastic and have no adverse effect on the environment, as opposed to palliatives and polymers. When looking for dust control at a construction site, TRUEGRID permeable pavers are a set-it-and-forget-it option.
You simply install them before beginning the work and take them out when you’re done. They can even get left in place in many instances where the value they provide as a parking lot and drainage material is too valuable to replace.
TRUEGRID is Transforming Construction Site Dust Control
Mitigating dust on a construction site is important if you want to maximize productivity and keep safety concerns to a minimum. To do this, you could choose a temporary dust control option like water or chemicals, or you could choose a permanent option like TRUEGRID permeable pavers.
If you want a durable, set-it-and-forget-it solution to dust control at a construction site, call TRUEGRID today and get in touch with a pavement professional.
