Another reason for Parking garage cleaning

Scott Stone

Scott Stone

New member
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vi...el=msn&from=en-us_msnhp&form=msnrll&gt1=42007

In the north areas, you might be wondering why you need to clean parking garages and structures. This video explains why. It has to do with the deicer, that, if not cleaned frequently causes damage to the parking structure concrete. I have talked with some garage designers and engineers, and this is their major concern. In Phoenix, cleaning parking garages, we do not have to worry about the deicing chemicals. We just get to worry about piles of dirt, and oil.
 
Scott Stone said:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vi...el=msn&from=en-us_msnhp&form=msnrll&gt1=42007

In the north areas, you might be wondering why you need to clean parking garages and structures. This video explains why. It has to do with the deicer, that, if not cleaned frequently causes damage to the parking structure concrete. I have talked with some garage designers and engineers, and this is their major concern. In Phoenix, cleaning parking garages, we do not have to worry about the deicing chemicals. We just get to worry about piles of dirt, and oil.
Click to expand...

Thats the biggest problem here by far with parking garages that aren't kept up with there cleaning maintenance. The Salts from those trucks and the salts that are on peoples tires when they are driving around in the winter and then park in those garages if not clean on a maintenance plan what eventually happens is the salts work there way down and since we all know salts corrode metal they do just that to the Rebar in the concrete.

I have on my bulletin board in my office(You know the old fashion ones with tacks to hold the papers on it:grin: ) of a Garage in my area that was deemed unsafe because of that and the garage had to be demolished and then replace for a price of $40,000,000.

Just think these garages in most cases are cash cows but why the owners don't want to pay a fair price to upkeep them is mind boggeling. The guess here is that some of these garages change hands quite a few times with ownership and someone in the end is stuck holding the bag...but then they probably get there insurance to supply the funds to rebuild them....and who do you think pays for that:bad:
 
They started doing this around here:

CHICAGO--Many Chicagoans pride themselves on surviving extreme weather, and laugh when a rainy day makes headlines in California. (With snow falling at two inches per hour Friday, the second day of spring, can you blame them?)
CHicagoSnow_270x207.jpg
This snowy scene in the Chicago area Friday isn't pretty if you need to drive far.
(Credit: Elsa Wenzel)
Seeking more eco-friendly ways to clear snow and ice from more than 9,500 miles of roadways, the Windy City is combining low-tech "green" chemicals with digital sensor systems.
Extract from sugar beet juice is key in a new formula used here to prevent ice buildup on the roads. Chicago mixes a cocktail of 15 percent beet juice, a gelatinous liquid that resists freezing even in subzero weather, with 80 percent briny water, and calcium chloride.
Two days or more before the expected snowfall, city trucks release the mixture onto bridge and overpass surfaces that can become fatally slippery; blasted by winds, the elevated thoroughfares also lack warmth from the ground.
Cheap and chunky rock salt, used for more than six decades in northern cities, effectively melts ice and provides traction. But it also erodes roadways and bridges and seeps into the ground, killing vegetation.
The brine "super mix" is better ecologically but imperfect because it still contains salt, according to Matt Smith, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Streets & Sanitation. However, most alternatives remain less safe and more costly than salt, he added.
The city continues to experiment with other natural de-icers. It has tested corn extract and other ingredients, as part of Mayor Richard M. Daley's oft-repeated goals to make Chicago America's "greenest" city.
Chicago has expanded its use of the beet recipe. The city used 450,000 tons of rock salt in addition to the beet juice cocktail in a test run last winter.
"It's not just the substance that's good but because we're able to harness new technology, we're able to put less wear and tear on the environment because trucks aren't out there as much as they used to be" wasting fuel and contributing to potholes, Smith said.
The city has a fleet of 273 snow-plow trucks each holding 10 tons of salt, plus 24 smaller plows for side streets. During heavy snowfall, some 150 garbage trucks can be outfitted with temporary plows.
Helping to direct the vehicles is an emergency communications center receiving data from close to 20 environmental sensors scattered around the city.
Sensors embedded in the ground and atop laser-outfitted poles transfer real-time data about ground temperatures and moisture via wires and wirelessly to the center, where monitors display live street scenes from 600 cameras. (Chicago has one of the world's most extensive and controversial anti-crime, public surveillance systems).
City officials pool that information with feeds from Doppler radar and the National Weather Service to send GPS-equipped snow trucks to areas needing the most attention.
"In the old days when a storm was coming through the area, the trucks were sitting there for hours and hours," Smith said. "Now we save a lot of time in winter and probably save a lot of lives."


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9901173-54.html#ixzz1CSNBQ1td​
 
Great info Scott, Thanks.
 
Great video Scott! I am actually sharing the video with a few parking garage managers as we speak! That must of been a pretty crazy feeling getting whipped around in that plow truck.
 
I would have to say the deck failed due to the 34,760 lb ( minimum empty) weight of that Ford 9000 series dump truck on it. Parking decks are not rated for that kind of weight unless special provision in construction are made. They should of put a F-350 to F-550 with a plow on it.
 
That truck should have never been on that structure it is way too heavy. We have been told by many builders/engineers you cant have anything larger than a F350 pickup on them with a load of salt. It has gotten to the point with some structures that anytime it snows we have to remove all the snow from the structure or it will be "overloaded".

The salt and other ice melts really tear up the rebar in these structures. The company next to my shop specializes in these repairs and they have had to go in and completely tear up floors and rebuild them. I believe he told me there was one that had to be done in less than 5 years due to lack of maintenance. The tough part it trying to convince them that they need a bit more than a flush with the fire hose to really do it right.
 
Scott Stone said:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vi...el=msn&from=en-us_msnhp&form=msnrll&gt1=42007

In the north areas, you might be wondering why you need to clean parking garages and structures. This video explains why. It has to do with the deicer, that, if not cleaned frequently causes damage to the parking structure concrete. I have talked with some garage designers and engineers, and this is their major concern. In Phoenix, cleaning parking garages, we do not have to worry about the deicing chemicals. We just get to worry about piles of dirt, and oil.
Click to expand...

Scott, have gotten any further with this as a reason to Clean a Garage?
 
I always like to see facts and points to mention to customers other then "It will look better"

Thanks Scott! Now I just gotta learn parking garages haha
 
How I hate those types of foot prints. They are really hard to get off, without getting absolutely soaked. If the ceiling is painted, I can almost guarantee to take the paint off, as well. Yuck, plus 10
 
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