Cleaner Air is Safer Air

cleaner air

Vapor Mitigation Strategies’ team completed the piping from the vapor pits to the risers for the SSDS, installed the AVB, and installed four vapor monitoring wells to ensure there was no vapor intrusion at D.C. early childhood centers, ensuring student safety.

A national chain of early childhood education centers chose the location of its Washington D.C. project on property known to have soil and groundwater contamination left behind from its former uses. The building designers were cognizant of the potential for vapor intrusion risk which might present itself to a sensitive population and researched design options.

Their choice was to employ a vapor intrusion mitigation system, which included a combination of two elements: an active pump sub-slab depressurization system (SSDS) component, and a spray-applied asphaltic vapor barrier (AVB). The SSDS consists of two square subterranean concrete vault “pits” with slotted openings at the top, and piping running from the pits to risers penetrating the sub-floor.

Both vapor pits were installed as part of the General Contractor’s (GC) pre-vapor intrusion mitigation installation commitment to provide for large scale construction items prior to the finishing of the SSDS and AVB by vapor intrusion mitigation installation specialists.

The GC accomplished pre-installation work which included construction of the vapor pits, all plumbing and electrical penetrating uprights, concrete collars around clustered penetrating uprights, smooth-grinding of rough surfaces for attachment of AVB to the foundation, and constructed and compacted the sub-slab gravel bed.

Vapor Mitigation Strategies’ team completed the piping from the vapor pits to the risers for the SSDS, installed the AVB, and installed four vapor monitoring wells.

The AVB was installed using a three-layer approach. First, by applying a polypropylene tarp which was rolled out tailored to fit around the vertical uprights and sealed to the foundation or uprights with Geo-Seal.

After the tarp was completely rolled out and all uprights and edges were addressed and sealed, the core layer of Geo-Seal was sprayed over the entire area.

Then, a final layer of tarp was installed to provide protection to the vapor barrier itself since metal rebar and concrete were layered on top.

www.vapormitigationstrategies.com

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management February 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Virginia Tech Establishes New Facility for School of Construction

    Virginia Tech recently partnered with construction management firm Procon Consulting to establish the Procon Innovation Center on its campus in Blacksburg, Va., according to a news release. The facility inside the university’s newly built Hitt Hall will offer hands-on collaboration and learning opportunities for students in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction and College of Engineering.

  • Los Angeles Unified School District Adopts VR Learning Platform

    The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) recently announced its partnership with Avantis Education to bring educational virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) solution ClassVR to its students. A news release reports that the district has already deployed more than 16,000 ClassVR headsets as part of the Los Angeles Unified Instructional Technology Initiative.

  • New Elementary School Opens in South Bronx, N.Y.

    Forte Construction Corp. recently announced that it has completed construction on P.S. 487, a new four-story elementary school in the South Bronx, according to a news release. The school is open for the current academic year and will serve more than 500 students in grades PreK–5.

  • California District Completes Second Phase of Construction on Innovation Campus

    The Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD) in Milpitas, Calif., recently announced that Phase Two of construction is complete on the MUSD Innovation Campus, according to a news release. The district is partnering with Blach Construction and Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) on the education and workforce development center, which will support Calaveras Hills High School.

Digital Edition