Control dust no back porch from gravel road behind my property?

[lokiju]

Seems unlikely that there's a solution other than enclose my porch but figured I'd through the question out there and see if anyone here has a creative solution...

My home is in a HOA community but right outside the community past my property/tree line is a gravel road for a small amount of houses. As people go up and down this gravel read every day to get to and from their homes, when it's dry out, dust makes its way towards my home and ends up covering my back porch in a layer of gravel dust.

It sucks for a few reasons, but most because anything that's left out there like my nice Weber grill gets covered in the crap and everything is just covered in a filthy layer, I don't want to set my tongs down when grilling, can't set bare feet on my porch, etc.

The only thought is maybe a sort of screen enclosure that's (unlikely it exist) fine enough to not let the dust in. But then I'd have to have a way to open this up when I'm grilling.

I end up leaving my grill covered year round and it becomes just that much more of chore to uncover it to use then recover after it's cooled off ever single time.

Has anyone ever come across a practical solution for dust control?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Water/oil down the source.
Install trees along the property line to act as a windbreak
Install fans to reverse the air flow.

Suffer

 

[sixone]

I have a screen porch, and live nowhere near a gravel road. It still gets terribly dusty. If anyone has a solution, I'd be grateful, too.

 

[D1gger]

http://www.ec.gc.ca/nopp/roadsalt/reports/en/profile.cfm#14

Calcium chloride is what we use for dust control on construction sites when it is an issue.

 

[Puppies04]

I have a pretty elegant solution for you, its success depends on you being able to get hold of a few tons of something called "tarmac". Let me know if you want the details....

On a serious note, would getting together with a few neighbours to get this road surfaced not be feasible, or is it completly out of the question?

 

[Texashiker]

NEPACCO waste mixed with oil works pretty good at controlling dust.

 

[lokiju]

I have a pretty elegant solution for you, its success depends on you being able to get hold of a few tons of something called "tarmac". Let me know if you want the details....

On a serious note, would getting together with a few neighbours to get this road surfaced not be feasible, or is it completly out of the question?

Neighborhood is unrelated to my own and not part of any HOA. I at one time even looked into what it'd take to get the city to pave it, but came up flat in my searches back then.

Maybe it's worth digging into once again.

I cannot wet it down or apply anything to it, it's no feasible to do so and I don't know that the home owners would be appreciative of making their road wet all the time.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Neighborhood is unrelated to my own and not part of any HOA. I at one time even looked into what it'd take to get the city to pave it, but came up flat in my searches back then.

Maybe it's worth digging into once again.

I cannot wet it down or apply anything to it, it's no feasible to do so and I don't know that the home owners would be appreciative of making their road wet all the time.

There is a type of oil that can be put down on gravel roads that eliminates the dust.


Soybean Oil Soapstock
A byproduct of soybean oil called called soybean oil soapstock, which is a common base oil for natural soaps, can be used in its liquid state and sprayed onto roads as a very environmentally friendly way to prevent dust. Coverage is about 1/4 of a gallon per square yard of roadway and has been proven at this rate of application to last all summer.

It does not pollute waterways during runoff and is considered non-toxic for plants and animals. It should be sprayed onto roadways as is, and it is never to be mixed in a water solution. Ideally, the ambient air temperature should be at least 75 degrees. Faster and better penetration into the gravel will occur with higher temperatures.



Read more: Dust Prevention on Gravel Roads | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5452006_dust-prevention-gravel-roads.html#ixzz1yAyUUOQw

More info from the EPA: http://www.epa.gov/owow/NPS/gravelroads/sec4.pdf

 

[lokiju]

Just got off the phone after being bounced around from the city level to the county level but last thing I was told was "we'll get to work right away on your request to have that road paved!!" with a overly cheery lady who took down the details. Gave me the feeling there's about a snowballs chance in hell of this actually being done, but what the hell, isn't going to happen without it being asked for...

 

[Pulsar]

Just got off the phone after being bounced around from the city level to the county level but last thing I was told was "we'll get to work right away on your request to have that road paved!!" with a overly cheery lady who took down the details. Gave me the feeling there's about a snowballs chance in hell of this actually being done, but what the hell, isn't going to happen without it being asked for...

So, you just called the city and the county to get someone else's road paved because you don't want dirt flying around outside and getting on your grill and porch?

Seriously? I'm surprised that the lady you were talking to didn't hang up on you. You're talking about thousands of dollars in assessments for each person with a house on that road, all so your back yard doesn't get dirty.

Wow.

 

[lokiju]

So, you just called the city and the county to get someone else's road paved because you don't want dirt flying around outside and getting on your grill and porch?

Seriously? I'm surprised that the lady you were talking to didn't hang up on you. You're talking about thousands of dollars in assessments for each person with a house on that road, all so your back yard doesn't get dirty.

Wow.

As opposed to.... what?

Every other option consist of me personally applying something to property that is not my own.

What I've asked for is legal and logical.

Its the ONLY non-paved road I've ever seen in my city.

 

[DrPizza]

Wow, that soybean crap. I suffer the same problem as you, OP. Sometimes, the direction of the wind makes my neighbors suffer. In general, they suffer more than I do. But, when the wind is just right, it sucks, especially for a couple weeks after they grade the road. But, for $200 out of pocket, I could do a long enough section of road to not have to deal with the dust. (It's paved in front of my house, and for about the next 150 feet along my property. But, after my small barn/garage structure, it's dirt road for the next 1300 hundred feet of my property. (And then, dirt for the following umpteen miles.)

I should take a picture of my boat before I take it down to the car wash this week. It looks absolutely trashed from all the dirt/dust on it. A little humidity/fog, etc., followed by dust = tons of dirt in the boat. It takes me about 6-8 hours to clean it the first time each year.

 

[SirStev0]

pavement?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It sucks for a few reasons, but most because anything that's left out there like my nice Weber grill gets covered in the crap and everything is just covered in a filthy layer, I don't want to set my tongs down when grilling, can't set bare feet on my porch, etc.

Its the ONLY non-paved road I've ever seen in my city.

Aren't you just a special snowflake? It's dust! Halt the presses, notify your Congressman and, call the President. I'm sure your HOA is working diligently to make dust a finable offense. Damn the world for inconveniencing you anyways!

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would just enclose the porch, add large glass windows with screens, so you can still open them when you want, but leave them closed at most times. You'd obviously need some kind of opening the vent out the BBQ but at least it would be closed up most of the time.

Could also install a roof and have a fine water fall all around, I think that would be cool. The water falling would stop the dust from getting in, and it can be run off at a push of a button to stop the pump.

Add LEDs to make the water different colors.

Planting a line of tall trees near the road (make sure to check with city how close you can plant them) could help too, but it will take years for them to get big enough.

 

[Squisher]

I have no idea what it would take to get the municipality to oil the road, but it might just be having enough people complain. Writing letters to everyone on your street and everyone on that road imploring them to call or write letters might work. Including a form letter that they could send might work too.

This will not be the first road ever oiled with dust retardant. How did those people get this done? Call back and maybe they'll tell you that you need a petition signed by a percent of the residents.