Gravel parking lots and dirt parking lots require the least upfront investment for most businesses. Compacted soil or gravel parking areas can be found in many residential, commercial or industrial sites.
Upfront construction costs of these types of parking lots is typically the main selling point, but there are tradeoffs. Wet weather creates mud, ponding and ruts. Frequent gravel refilling is a must to keep lots usable, and this maintenance cost adds up quickly. And perhaps the biggest issue is dust.
Traffic causes grinding and compaction of gravel creating fines. When driven on, these fines become airborne. Airborne dust is a major health hazard for users of the parking lot as they breathe in these particles.
Parking Lot Dust Control Tips
Thankfully, you have a few different options when it comes to dust control in a dirt parking lot, so in case you own or maintain a gravel or dirt parking lot and want to know how to optimize it, let’s take a look at some helpful tips you can use to accomplish your goal.
1. Water
This is the least expensive method for gravel parking lot dust control as well as a dirt parking lot. Spraying down your parking lot with a fine mist of water will weigh down the dust and prevent it from kicking up into the air when vehicles drive over it.
This is a great temporary fix because your only cost is the water, but it’s not the perfect solution. Seeing as how the dust will dry out again rather quickly, you could find yourself spraying down your parking lot multiple times per day just to keep the dust down.
This is obviously a less-than-ideal scenario, but it works great if you just need a quick fix.
2. Chemical Dust Suppression
If you want to know how to reduce dust in your gravel parking lot without just using plain water, you could always resort to chemical dust suppression. Chemicals like sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, plant oils, and natural clays are all more heavy-duty options when it comes to parking lot dust control.
The most commonly utilized choices here are calcium chloride and magnesium chloride. This is because they are chemicals that naturally attract moisture from the air, allowing them to last longer than a simple spray-down with water.
If you live in a hot, dry area, calcium chloride is the best of these chemical suppressant options. Its chemical profile is such that it can last a long time even under dry, hot conditions. Magnesium chloride, however, turns to liquid under these conditions, leading to lower quality dust control.
These chemicals are not a permanent solution, though, and should not be relied upon as such. They will last longer than water, but will eventually wear off in the same fashion. And they have less than desirable environmental effects.
3. TRUEGRID Permeable Pavers
The only permanent solution to parking lot dust is to use permeable pavers like the kind offered by TRUEGRID. Dirt and gravel parking lots tend to be temporary because of the dust, mud, ruts and maintenance problems, but with permeable pavers, you can extend their life and create a maintenance, dust-free parking lot that will last for decades.
TRUEGRID’s pavers are made from highly durable, recycled plastic sourced via eco-friendly methods. They come in interlocking grids which are incredibly easy to install.
To turn your gravel or dirt parking lot into one with permeable paving, you simply need to level and compact your site, put the pavers down, refill the pavers the dirt or gravel to the top of the grid without overfilling. Roll over for a final compaction. The grid system handles the traffic loads and does not allow the gravel to be pulverized. No more dust!
The gravel or dirt fill is stabilized and no maintenance is needed.
There are also parking markers to stripe and organize your lot for better utilization and efficiency. These markers lock into the plastic grid system easily without tools By laying down these pavers you will prevent dust, flooding, ruts, mud, gravel replacement, maintenance, tire damage, and chemical contamination in your parking lot. It’s a chemical-free, one-time solution that improves drainage while preventing you and your fellow building-goers from ever breathing in parking lot dust again.
Permeable Pavers are the Responsible Solution to Parking Lot Dust
If you want to do away with suffocating parking lot dust that coats everything and everyone who walks through it, as well as prevent yourself from incurring fines or recurring maintenance expenses, you need a permanent solution. Water and chemicals can work temporarily, but only TRUEGRID pavers will provide you with a safer, cleaner, and permanent solution for dust control in the dirt parking lot.
These pavers are very inexpensive to install, long-lasting and are far and away the more environmentally friendly choice for combating dust.
By investing in permeable pavers you are making the smartest long-term choice for your parking lot, allowing it to be used for many years to come, and preventing you from having to install a costly asphalt or concrete parking lot that will need additional drainage and maintenance down the line.
Simply put, if you want to know how to reduce dust in a gravel parking lot, TRUEGRID permeable pavers are the answer.
