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If your home or business has suffered due to a fire, the damage caused by flames, smoke, soot, and water can be extremely tough to clean. The first step is to hire a professional restoration contractor. They will assess the damage and decide what can be restored and what’s a lost cause. The preferred and most effective method of cleaning fire damage is dry ice blasting, which can quickly restore any surface to its original condition.

The Problem

Whether the surface is made out of wood, metal, or even concrete – fire and smoke is incredibly damaging. Not only can there be severe damage, but smoke and soot can leave a long-lasting and powerful odor that will permeate the entire structure. Depending on the type of materials burned, some smoke damage is more challenging to clean than others.

“Wet smoke” is from a lower temperature fire which creates an oily residue that is difficult to remove. “Dry smoke” occurs from fires that burn extremely hot and creates a powdery residue that can coat every surface in a building. If there’s smoke from burning plastic or rubber, it can create smoke “webs” on the ceiling that smear once touched and carries an awful odor that saturates the surface.

In an attempt to remove smoke and fire damage, a restoration team might apply a conventional cleaning method, such as scraping by hand. However, this method is arduous work, and unfortunately, does not remove the odor caused by smoke damage. Sometimes, the workers might apply techniques such as sandblasting or soda blasting. While they can remove the smoke damage, the abrasive nature also damages the surface beneath.  Additionally, this creates byproduct waste that needs to be cleaned up after the process is finished.

This increases the overall workload and effort required to restore fire and smoke damage, making it much more time-consuming. Depending on the space, conventional methods can take about 12-16 days to complete, requiring up to 12 workers. Additional time and effort is required for post-blasting cleanup. The overall time it takes to finish cleaning depends on the size of the space that’s damaged, but it’s obvious to see how the time and costs of traditional restoration methods can add up quickly.

The Solution

Dry ice blasting is the perfect method for fire restoration. Dry ice cleaning systems use non-abrasive mediums that are in the form of CO₂ pellets. Another bonus of using these CO₂ pellets is that they’re recycled, making this method eco-friendly, and they don’t damage the surrounding surfaces or equipment. How does the dry ice blasting process work? It’s actually a combination of thermal effect and kinetic energy. That may sound confusing, but essentially, the combination breaks the tension between the dirt and the surface, which effectively eliminates any dirt, grime, or contaminants.

Blasting with other mediums like soda or sand can leave byproducts and secondary waste. Using dry ice blasting doesn’t come with those extra hassles and time-consuming, tedious work. It doesn’t leave any leftover waste or byproducts because the particles of dry ice sublimate when they touch the surface. That means that they convert directly to a gas from a solid, skipping the liquid stage entirely, which is why they evaporate and leave no mess behind.

Using dry ice blasting is also fast, safe, and non-toxic, and it doesn’t create any downstream contamination, either. Another bonus of using dry ice blasting for smoke damage cleanup is that it reduces employee exposure to toxic chemical cleaning agents. Using dry ice blasting is also much quicker than conventional restoration methods. Typically, dry ice blasting follows this general time structure:

• 
  Wood: 7 – 10 ft²/min

• 
  Brick: 10+ ft²/min

• 
  Painted metal: 5 – 7 ft²/min

Using dry ice blasting can also remove stubborn soot and even eradicate vaporized synthetic resins or charred carbon. One of the most challenging parts of any fire restoration process is getting rid of the awful smell of smoke, which can permeate the entire building. However, dry ice blasting can successfully remove that acrid, burnt smell. It’s even effective at cleaning those tiny crevices around crown molding and trusses and even plumbing and wiring—and it never causes damage to the surface or structure’s integrity.

The Results

Based on the general calculation and time estimates above, dry ice blasting is not only more effective than traditional cleaning techniques but takes about half the time and half the number of people required to complete the job. Not only does it remove smoke and fire damage, but it eliminates any odor as well, which conventional methods simply don’t have the capabilities to achieve.

Using dry ice blasting can save an estimated 70% on restoration costs by reducing time, money, and manual labor. Dry ice blasting reduces cleaning time, increases cleaning speed, and reduces the overall costs and expenses, which is why it’s one of the most popular and effective methods for smoke and fire damage restoration. If you are a Restoration company looking to hire a dry ice blasting service, consider us! We’re Carmad Industrial and we’ve been doing this for over 15 years. Contact us today by calling us at 780-728-7140.

The weather is nicer. The snow is melting. The potholes, emerging. Do you know what that means? Construction season is upon us. Suppose you work in road construction and you’re curious about new methods to make your life a little easier. This article is for you. Every business is trying to reduce costs that cut from its profits. In the road construction business, there are likely a handful of inefficiencies, but we’re covering two: equipment breakdowns and unproductive use of labour.

Road work is a dirty job!

Asphalt consists of cement, gravel, and sand which is mixed with sticky black bitumen. The bitumen is like the glue, or like the melted marshmallow that turns your rice Krispies from a boring cereal mix to a tasty treat. Bitumen is the binding agent. As you can imagine, if it makes rock stick together, then it’s bound to stick to your clothes, your shoes, your tools, your vehicles, and your equipment. This is where the problem arises.

Asphalt is initially hot and “viscous”, almost like mild lava which is spread across the ground. As it cools, it hardens into the road you will eventually drive down. Similarly, when asphalt is on your vehicle or equipment and it cools, it’s very difficult to remove. On top of that, road work is a busy season, and the only time to clean some of the equipment is in the off-season, once layers upon layers of asphalt have accumulated on every surface, crack, and crevasse. Other vehicles, such as Priming vehicles, require much more attention throughout the season. 

The “old school” method

Simply put, the result of equipment accumulating too much asphalt is breakdown. And these machines are not cheap to repair or replace. The traditional method of cleaning is crew members using harmful chemicals and pressure washing to break up asphalt. This is where the second problem arises: cleaning with traditional methods is hazardous, repetitive, and mostly ineffective. The chemicals have to “sink in” and sit before the pressure washer can break up the bitumen. The entire process takes about 1 week for 1 truck, and the truck still has remnants of a sticky-black residue. This is where dry ice blasting comes in.

The “new school” method

Dry ice blasting first and most are contracted out to a service provider. So right off the top, the crew members that would otherwise be pressure washing and exposed to hazardous chemicals are “freed-up” to work on more productive projects. Furthermore, what used to take an entire week of work, is now compressed into a single day of dry ice blasting. The reason is dry ice blasting is so effective making sticky-thing not so sticky, with such a velocity that the material is broken upon contact. Above all that, dry ice blasting cleans right down to the substrate, leaving no evidence of bitumen, with the equipment looking like new again. Technically speaking, dry ice blasting has 3 cool effects that enable it to be so effective. There’s a tremendous amount of kinetic energy and “thermal shock” which breaks up debris, combined with the property of sublimation, where the dry ice turns to gas on contact, which makes it non-abrasive to the substrate.

Conclusion

In summary, dry ice blasting will save road contractors time and money by being a far more effective method at cleaning equipment and freeing up labour. With contractors wanting to cut costs where they can, outsourcing their cleaning to a dry ice blaster will help them keep more of their profit. It’s a very smart move business-wise, which is why Carmad Industrial is offering contractors a discounted rate to clean one of their vehicles as a demonstration of how dry ice blasting could benefit the entire fleet. To take advantage of this offer, contact us today by calling us at 780-728-7140.

Have you ever driven around the city and seen a questionable display of tax dollars put to use for abstract art? Every city in North America has their share. And, whether you love it, hate it, or simply just don’t get it – one thing is for certain: having sculptures maintained is better than having them removed. Bonus points if they can be easily maintained at an affordable rate. And, that’s exactly what the City of Toronto discovered. 

Along University Avenue in Toronto lives a world-famous, stainless steel sculpture made by contemporary artist Zhang Huan. The art piece measures about 20m x 20m and weighs over 20 tons! Within one year of being on display, the sculpture had been covered by debris, dust, and pollutants from nearby traffic. You can imagine that in a less-welcoming city of expensive art, that the possibility of vandalism and graffiti is also a risk. 

The Challenges of Cleaning Art

The challenge public art presents the City is how to effectively clean it without incurring damage (after all, no one wants their tax dollars to go to waste). The first option might be to have a team of workers scaffold around the object and hand wash it. You might imagine, as the City of Toronto did, that it’s not feasible to have a staff of workers carefully and delicately clean every crack and crevice by hand, especially considering the risk of potentially damaging the art. The next option would be to pressure wash it. Water, after all, wouldn’t damage the surface, and with enough pressure, the team could clean difficult areas with ease.

But, pressure washing glass and metallics is not as effective as concrete and brick. Why? Well, as you know if you’ve ever washed your car – streaks easily occur and it doesn’t take too long before your car appears dirty again. Water actually contains minerals that when dried on glass and metallics are visible to the naked eye. Dried minerals create an additional surface area to attract dust, dirt, grime, and pollutants to call home. Pressure washing priceless art, while fast and easy, is a waste of time.

The Best Way To Clean 

This is when the City of Toronto decided on Dry Ice blasting as their cleaning method. Admittedly, dry ice is slightly more expensive than water. But there are unparalleled advantages dry ice blasting has over every other method. First and foremost, dry ice blasting is non-abrasive and is safe to use on all surfaces, no matter how delicate. Dry ice sublimates on contact, with only enough kinetic energy to remove the surface grime without transferring any damage to the surface beneath it. Second, dry ice blasting can get in all the same hard-to-reach areas as pressure washing, with the clear advantage being dry ice evaporates and leaves no mess behind. Imagine a soaking wet 20x20m piece of metal dripping wet and left to air dry. Now imagine the same 20x20m piece of metal dry and shiny, and that’s what dry ice blasting does. Finally, unlike water leaving any minerals behind, dry ice provides a truly cleaned surface that will remain clean-looking for far longer periods of time!

In summary, ensuring public art is properly cleaned and maintained will ensure the City’s tax dollars don’t go to waste. This objective is achieved by using the most cost-effective method of cleaning, and that just happens to be Dry ice blasting. Dry ice blasting is used by municipalities and art restoration companies all over the world as the best way to preserve sculptures. Carmad Industrial is the premier dry ice blasting service in Western Canada. For more information, visit our page on dry ice blasting, or call us directly at 780.728.7140. Thank you for reading, and we’ll see you again soon!

When Opportunity calls, pick up the phone.

Imagine you own a trucking company. Imagine a customer calls you out of the blue and explains they need help as their go-to driver came down with the flu and can’t make the delivery. They need you to deliver a truckload of food up north, and the drive will take two days. They explain that if you can make it happen, that they’ll become regular clients of yours and bring a lot of business your way. The order is sitting at a distribution center and ready to be shipped.The only thing is a portion of the order will need to be kept cold. All you need is to pick up some dry ice and you’ll be ready to leave tomorrow morning. 

So you call up the Big Dry Ice Company – you know, the big guys. Chances are you’ve already worked them before and you have an account on file. You wait on the line to speak to someone about the order you want to place. You explain you need 4 totes of dry ice, that you’re travelling approximately two days worth of distance, and that you’ll need it by tomorrow. Without any hesitation, the rep on the phone explains to you, “hey not a problem, Mr.Business-Owner, we’ll have your order ready in 36 hours.”

“Sorry,” you exclaim, “you must have misheard me. I need it for tomorrow.”

The rep on phone casually and nonchalantly explains that that’s impossible to fulfill, that there’s 2 dozen other truckers in front of you, that you should have called ahead of time, and that the Big Dry Ice Company has some sort of policy for situations like this. He trailed on and on but once your stomach sank you tuned him out and eventually hung up. This is the feeling no one told you about when you first got into business. This is the moment where most people hang up the gloves and call it in. Wasn’t it so much easier when you weren’t the boss?

WORK the PROBLEM

What do you do now? Do you call the customer back up and say it’s impossible and that you’ll need more time to deliver their order? What will they think after you said yes and can’t deliver? You know they’ll just call some other trucking company to ask for their help. You need to find a solution.

So after a cigarette, you come to your senses and with a fire of inspiration you realize that The Big Dry Ice Company can’t be the only guys town who make dry ice. Now you’re being resourceful. You get on your phone to make a quick google search and that’s where you found Carmad. You gave them a call, told them the situation, and to your surprise once you told them that you need your order by tomorrow morning they said “Yup, not a problem”. 

Crisis averted. You picked up the order and delivered it to the client on time. The client was satisfied not only with your responsiveness to pick up the job on short notice, but also that you were able to fulfill what you promised. Fast forward a year later and you have a solid working relationship with them and your business is booming. 

To a small business, you are the most important customer.

This story is based on true events. It highlights the simple and significant advantage that you gain by hiring Carmad: customer service. When you work with Carmad you are more than just your account number. You are a business owner whose needs change on a dime. Carmad is flexible, adaptable and always able to support you. You’re known on a first-name basis. You’re treated with respect. Carmad has a vested interest in ensuring that you are a satisfied customer. There’s skin in the game that the Big Guys can’t relate to. So if you’re in the market for dry ice and want to experience the small business advantage first hand, give us a call today. Thank you for reading and we’ll see you again soon.

Food Subscription Services is a niche industry that has seen tremendous growth in the last few years. More people are realizing the benefits of having high-quality fresh food delivered right to their door. Ordered right from their smartphone, they can skip grocery shopping and receive ready-to-cook pre-portioned meals. The convenience factor is unparalleled; people are eating it up, and as a result, more competitors have stepped up to the plate. This is a race, and whoever has the best ratings wins. Customer Satisfaction is the name of the game, and negative reviews of spoiled food will break the quarterly sales projection.

A real life scenario

Put it this way, you see an ad on Youtube showing you a delicious-looking chicken cobb salad. You think to yourself, Gee I have been hitting the carbs a little heavy lately and I’m feeling a little shameful everytime I step out of the shower – maybe I should eat a little healthier. Being sold on the convenience of healthy food delivered to your door, you click the ad and make an order for the following week. Several days later you got a little side tracked and forgot your parcel was coming. You didn’t notice the courier drop it off and it ended up sitting on your front porch for a number of hours. Finally you caught wind of it, anxiously grab it to unpack only to find that the chicken has been sitting at room temperature for an unknown amount of time. It’s wasted, and you’re disappointed. What do you do next?

Most people feeling embarrassed are quick to forget and don’t say anything. They also don’t make another purchase. Some people call and complain, demanding a refund or leave an irate comment on social media and google reviews. In the competitive world of ecommerce, ratings are everything to future customers. To the food subscription service, this is bad news. Everything they did on their end was correct. It was a customer error, and there’s nothing they could have done differently, right? Wrong. 

How to keep food fresh longer

This is where dry ice comes in. For those of you who may not know, dry ice is safely insulated within the packaging, beneath the food. It’s used because of its advantages over regular ice – it doesn’t melt (causing a wet mess) and can stay cold longer. It’s the latter factor that will make or break a satisfied customer. For example, did you know that you can have 2 pieces of dry ice that are virtually identical in shape and size, but one sublimate faster than the other? Not all dry ice is the same, and it depends on how it’s produced. Hint: if you sell food, this is super important, so keep reading.

The traditional method of producing dry ice, which is widely practiced especially by larger producers is intended for volume. Liquid Carbon Dioxide enters a pressure chamber and the substance turns into solid blocks of dry ice. These blocks are typically formed in large slabs, then cut into slices. Pre Food Subscription era purchasers weren’t as picky with dry ice quality and if they needed more, they would buy more or get larger slices. Now, more than ever precision is required. 

The modern method of production adds another step to the process. Liquid Carbon Dioxide is added to a pressure chamber – and instead of a block – rice pellets are formed. Then an 80-ton press compresses the rice into the desired form that suits your requirements. The result is a far denser piece of dry ice. The benefits of this product are twofold. First, as you can imagine, it’s going to last 20 – 30% longer than the traditional method. Second, what you were previously capable of doing with 10lbs of traditional dry ice, you can now accomplish with 8lbs. Note: Carmad Industrial has a proprietary process that does exactly this.

The competitive advantage

Long story short, denser dry ice lasts longer. Using denser dry ice will ensure that food deliveries remain fresh for longer periods of time. This means the customers receive fresher food and are happy to do business with you. These customers are likely to reorder again and leave a positive review. They’re less likely to complain or ask for a refund. In the ultra-competitive space of Food Subscription services, every slight edge is an advantage. 

If you are purchasing dry ice, you should seriously consider getting the best quality. Call us today for a free estimate! You’ll be glad you did. Thank you for reading, and we’ll chat soon again.