One of the first things they want to know about Perma-Zyme is, “How does it hold up in the rain?” That’s a valid question when traditional soil stabilizers disintegrate in rain like rapidly dissolving toilet paper! So, we’ll walk through the science that makes Perma-Zyme water-resistant. We’ll also show you real roads that have withstood everything from west Texas rainstorms to Michigan winters to Gulf Coast hurricanes.
Let’s dig in!
Many soil stabilizers are hydrophilic. Literally, this means they “love water.” Scientifically, it means they’re susceptible to moisture; they absorb, mix with, and/or dissolve in water. Their bonds begin to break when they come in contact with it, and then your soil is no longer stable.
Take chlorides for example. They suppress dust and stabilize soil, but they’re salt. And if you’ve ever been to the ocean or gargled saltwater to soothe a toothache, you know salt dissolves in water. That’s why chloride soil stabilizers wash away in the rain. And bad news for the environment: this salt can reach toxic levels for soil, water, and wildlife.
Some polymeric soil stabilizers are also moisture susceptible. Topical polymers are vulnerable to rain, whereas polymer injections break down over time due to groundwater. (Synthetic polymers may last longer than natural ones, but they still fail over time.) Even cement can break down due to moisture, especially if the water or surrounding soil is acidic.
Perma-Zyme is made of enzymes and a proprietary, organic ingredient blend. The enzymes react with clay and limestone particles in the soil to bind them together into a hard, concrete-like surface that’s almost totally impermeable. This water-resistant surface lasts a decade or more under normal traffic.
To achieve these results, Perma-Zyme goes through three phases: water-soluble, curing, and water-resistant. Its reaction to water evolves as it goes through these phases, so let’s discuss them more.
Enzymes are proteins, and proteins are water-soluble. But, not to worry! Solubility is good—and necessary—to apply Perma-Zyme.
Before the application, you’ll need to wet the soil to about 80% of its optimum moisture content—the amount of water at which you can compact and shape the soil for strength and drainage, respectively. The water helps with compaction by lubricating the soil so the particles can move closer together. You may find that a light rain a day or two before the application helps with this step, since it’ll bring the soil closer to optimum moisture before construction and reduce your water hauling costs.
Next, fill the truck with water and Perma-Zyme. They’ll mix together, so you can spray the solution evenly over the soil’s surface for a thorough application. During this process, the enzymes in Perma-Zyme disperse throughout the water but remain active and ready to treat your soil.
Diluting Perma-Zyme is essential because the formula is highly concentrated. Just fifteen gallons will treat an entire mile of a 24-foot wide, two-lane road. It’d be almost impossible to distribute that little liquid over that large of an area without adding water. The added water also achieves optimum moisture for maximum compaction, giving your soil its greatest strength and durability.
Once Perma-Zyme is on the ground, the same water that lubricates the soil also helps the enzymes move through it. Use your motor grader to mix them in, then compact the soil. Thorough compaction is the key to a successful Perma-Zyme application because it presses the soil particles and enzymes as close together as possible for a strong bond and lasting results.
Soil must cure for 72 hours after applying Perma-Zyme. In the curing phase, the water you used during application evaporates, letting Perma-Zyme harden and become water-resistant. The treated soil must dry fully for optimal results. Rain slows the curing process because it dissolves the enzymes and allows the wrong kind of compaction—like ruts and washboarding from heavy trucks driving on wet, soft soil.
To avoid this, we recommend checking the weather a few days before your application to make sure there’s no precipitation forecast within the 72-hour curing period. We also recommend postponing the application if it rains too hard beforehand. If rain drenches the soil too much, adding the Perma-Zyme and water solution could make your soil too wet to compact or take longer to cure.
Of course, no one can control the weather. (They’re called “pop-up storms” for a reason!) Sometimes, a rainstorm will soak the treated surface before the Perma-Zyme cures. In those cases, customers can rework the soil with their grader to restore the intended surface, recompact it, and let it cure.
This is the longest and best part of Perma-Zyme’s relationship to water! When it cures, the hard surface is extremely water-resistant. That’s because the soil is packed so tightly together, little to no water can soak into it. In fact, we encourage our customers to plan for drainage as if they’re paving the area because Perma-Zyme sheds water almost as well as asphalt.
The treated surface will stay intact for a decade or more on unpaved county roads, or up to five years on heavy industrial roads.
As you’ve figured out, almost means that sometimes rain can still seep into and soften the top layer of soil. The good news is, it won’t destroy or deactivate the enzymes, and it won’t soak all the way through the treated area. That’s because we recommend treatment depths ranging from six to 12 inches, so rain can’t reach the enzymes encased deeper in the soil.
If the surface softens enough to incur damage, you can rework it and let it dry. Otherwise, it’s best to let it re-harden on its own.
Rain can even help treated roads self-heal from normal wear and tear. In some cases, customers have found that constant heavy traffic can cause ruts or potholes on roads with shallower treatment depths. However, rain can also soften the road's surface by dissolving the outer layer of enzymes and lubricating the soil, letting nature and traffic re-compact it. Once it stops raining, the road re-hardens. Some customers saw potholes disappear completely after a couple days of rain.
Note: The degree to which Perma-Zyme can self-heal depends on several factors, like soil type, traffic, and climate. Results vary by region or road, and we can't guarantee that all projects will self-heal. But, we do guarantee that Perma-Zyme will create a hard, concrete-like surface that lasts for years with minimal maintenance.
Lots of customers have tried to check Perma-Zyme’s water-resistance in a… creative way. It doesn’t work, so let’s save you (and our customer success reps) some time and give you the scoop now.
When soil performs well on our soil evaluations, we treat some of it with Perma-Zyme to make a puck about an inch thick and two inches across. We send the pucks to our customers so they can see their soil’s hard surface. But, the first thing most people do is drop the puck in a bucket of water to “see how Perma-Zyme holds up in the rain.” Then, they call us when it dissolves after a few minutes!
So, let’s clear things up:
Perma-Zyme pucks will dissolve if you submerge them 360° in water. That’s because they are small enough for water to dissolve the outer layer of enzymes—just like rain can soften the surface of a treated road. But, the puck doesn’t have five more inches of treated soil underneath, and it has water coming from all directions. A road is thicker, and it should never be encased 360° in water. (If that happens, you’d better build an ark because we’ve got bigger problems!) The puck demonstrates your soil’s Perma-Zyme compatibility, not its water-resistance. (Likewise, if you run over a Perma-Zyme puck with a dump truck to “test its strength,” we can pretty much guarantee that you’ll crush it to smithereens.)
So, how do you know Perma-Zyme is water-resistant? 50+ years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers worldwide. Let’s check out some of their projects.
In the real world, your Perma-Zyme project is most likely to experience water in the form of rain, snow, or ice falling from above, as well as groundwater and frost seeping up from below. With the virtual tours below, you can check out real roads that have withstood water in its many forms.
Abilene, Texas, may be the star of several hit country songs, but the conditions on County Road 109 wouldn’t have made anyone think of fame, fortune, or platinum records. This road serves as an airport bypass for passenger vehicles, as well as trucks and equipment from nearby oilfields. Every time it rained, the road became a gooey, gummy mess with huge ruts from all that heavy traffic.
The city treated the road with Perma-Zyme in August of 2020. The road hardened into a tough surface that supports those heavy trucks with ease—no ruts and no mud during the fall rainy season.
Two swampy, low-lying spots caused problems along Walker Road in Atlas Township, Michigan. When temperatures dropped, the water in the soil froze, and the road heaved in upon itself. It developed two giant frost boils every winter that were so severe, residents had to abandon their cars and walk home. Rain and snowmelt during the spring thaw compounded these problems.
The county that oversees Walker Road treated it with Perma-Zyme. Afterward, Road Commission Vice Chair Shirley Kautman Jones said, “It’s amazing. I mean, it’s still a gravel road, but there are no frost boils. The road does not fall apart… That particular road would get a lot of rainwater runoff and create erosion. So, you’d be losing road material, [and now] that does not happen. I would definitely recommend the product… It has performed well.”
P.S. Want to hear the rest of Shirley’s Perma-Zyme review? Check it out here!
A property owner had a private, dirt road for recreation, hunting, and logging on his ranch in Devers, Texas. The ranch was located just 45 minutes from the Gulf Coast, so the road needed frequent regrading due to rainstorms and hurricanes. It also struggled with ruts from heavy truck traffic.
The landowner knew something had to be done, so he applied Perma-Zyme. Within three days, the soil cured and became rock-hard. But what really impressed him was what happened next: two hurricanes pummeled the area within the next six months, and the road remained intact. It didn’t need regrading, and it didn’t rut.
In fact, the road survived more hurricanes, tropical storms, and rainstorms in the five years after construction, and the landowner has been pleased with its performance each time.
When Perma-Zyme cures, its concrete-like surface is almost 100% impermeable to water. It’s worked for projects all across the country—from Michigan to Texas and everywhere in between. And it can work for you, too!
Want to be sure that Perma-Zyme can stabilize your soil? We’ll check its compatibility for free! Request a soil evaluation, and we’ll send you everything you need to take samples of your soil. We’ll even pay to ship them back to our lab. Then, we’ll conduct three soil evaluations to see how well Perma-Zyme will work with your soil to create that hard, rain-resistant surface you need. Then, we’ll give you custom recommendations to help your application succeed.
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