Dry Ice Blasting Safely Cleans Iconic Bourbon Distillery in a Partnership of Craft
Experience, high-quality and attention to detail are signature characteristics of craftsmanship.
In Kentucky’s iconic bourbon country, craftsmanship is layered upon craftsmanship. The design and construction of its premier distilleries is an art in itself, and the purview of a construction company dedicated to crafting the elaborate wooden warehouses where barrels of the world’s best bourbon and whiskeys are aged.
Like bourbon making, bourbon warehouse construction is a specialty steeped in history, craft and precision. The manner in which whisky is stored during the aging process influences its flavor.
Specialty Rehabbing Project Calls for Specialty Cleaning Provider
When work began on the rehabbing of some the older wooden warehouses where decades of exposure to the elements had left parts caked in dirt and mold, the company wasn’t going to hire a run-of-the-mill industrial cleaning service. They looked for a provider with some serious craft.
Even though the work would be done while the warehouses were empty, the contractor wanted a cleaning method capable of delivering a deep clean, but with more finesse and delicacy than abrasive blasting can deliver.
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 rotted or water-damaged wood are cleaned without any damage to the structure.
The Water-Free, Chemical-Free and Abrasion-Free Advantage of CO2 Blasting
Another advantage of dry ice blasting is that no chemicals are used in the process and the frozen CO2 pellets it uses sublimate on contact, so there’s no collateral debris introduced in sensitive settings. Dry ice blasting is also a water-free process, minimizing the need for post-cleaning clean-up and eliminating the risk of corrosion introduced by other blasting methods.
Adjustable nozzles used in dry ice blasting also enable the force of the blast to be carefully calibrated. Dry ice blasting can be used safely on surfaces as delicate as electrical panels. That is a key attribute in the historic restoration industry where aged and delicate materials must be cleaned of decades worth of buildup without the risk of damage to the underlying substrate.
For the whisky warehouse rehabbing, the specialty construction firm hired a dry ice blasting provider experienced in delicate restoration settings to prepare the buildings for their makeover.
Dry Ice Blasting Yields “Fantastic” Results for Specialty Construction Firm
The results were described as “fantastic.” The warehouses were left free of dirt and debris, revealing the state of the wood beneath with no weakening of the posts.
Other applications where contractors often turn to dry ice blasting include food and beverage manufacturing facilities, power plant and refinery cleaning, pharmaceutical facility cleaning and fire restoration work.
In some cases, like the removal of firmly adhered paint layers, dry ice blasting is used in combination with sponge blasting. Sponge blasting can deliver more abrasive force than dry ice blasting, depending on the media embedded inside the synthetic sponge pieces that are used. Like dry ice blasting, sponge blasting is also water free.
