Dry Ice Blasting & Cleaning Blog

Case Study: Dry Ice Blasts Away the Years in Service to a Centuries Old Craft

Time, quality and attention to detail are the hallmarks of craft. And where you find one form of craft, you are likely to find others surrounding it.

That’s why Kentucky’s premier distilleries rely on the talents of Buzick Construction, which has specialized in providing design and construction expertise and services to Kentucky’s most iconic industry for more than eight decades.

“We are the only company that builds these,” said Buzick Project Manager and Safety Director David Hite of the elaborate wooden warehouses designed to hold and age barrels of the world’s finest bourbons and whiskeys. “We do the distillery side as well,” Hite said. “The bourbon industry is 100% of our business.”

In recent years, the work has had an increasingly public-facing focus as hundreds of thousands of visitors discover the spirited charms of Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail. Recent projects for the Buzick team include the construction of a visitor warehouse with a tasting room and grand spaces for soaking up a little bourbon 101.

Bourbon warehouse construction, like bourbon making, is a specialty steeped in history, craft and precision; the way in which whisky is stored during the aging process contributes to its flavor at the end.

Restoration of Aging Bourbon Warehouses Calls for a Delicate Touch

When Buzick Construction began rehabbing some of the older wooden warehouses where decades of exposure to the elements had left parts of the structures caked in dirt and mold, the company didn’t subcontract the cleaning out to just any provider. They looked for a provider with some serious craft.

An encounter with the Polar Clean team at another distillery client location had introduced the Buzick team to the finesse and power of dry ice blasting. “When we do the rehabs, the warehouses are empty but you still just can’t go in there with any kind of material and tools. You’ve got to be very delicate. Dry ice is really the least risky.”

The Polar Clean team took on the job of preparing the warehouses for rehab, removing dirt and debris to reveal the state of the wood underneath without damaging or weakening the posts in the process.

Dry ice blasting is an effective solution in such cases because the force and dwell-time of the blast can be adjusted to ensure that sections of rotten or water-damaged wood are cleaned without damage to the structure.

Hite also likes the fact that no chemicals are used in the process of dry ice blasting, which uses CO2 pellets that sublimate on contact and introduce no added debris.

 

Before Dry Ice Cleaning

Before Dry Ice Blasting

After Dry Ice Cleaning

After Dry Ice Blasting

 

Before Dry Ice Cleaning

Before Dry Ice Blasting

After Dry Ice Cleaning

After Dry Ice Blasting

 

Before Dry Ice Cleaning

Before Dry Ice Blasting

After Dry Ice Cleaning

After Dry Ice Blasting

Dry Ice Blasting Yields “Fantastic” Results for Specialty Construction Firm

“It works fantastic,” he said. “There’s no reason for me to consider another method. It’s very productive.”

Hite said working with the Polar Clean team was an equally impressive experience. “We are absolutely tickled to death with them. In the field and in the office, everything is on point.”

From timing and scheduling to the final results, Hite said the project was a success. “They are fantastic to work with.”

Reliable, High-Quality Results for the Trickiest Cleaning Jobs

With decades of experience, proprietary tools and methods and a superbly-trained team, Polar Clean provides dry ice blasting and other cleaning solutions to industries and facilities with little room for error, including refinery and petrochemical, power plants, food and beverage production and historic renovation, among others.

Our work is carefully planned, customized and executed to ensure the highest quality results with minimal downtime or disruption.

To learn more about Polar Clean solutions for your most challenging cleaning jobs, along with the many advantages of dry ice blasting, reach out to one of our team members today.

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