Perma-Zyme is a soil stabilizer that’s powerful enough to withstand heavy truck and equipment traffic for up to five years, yet it’s 100% organic and eco-friendly. It also reduces fugitive dust for up to one year with no chlorides.
To get the best results, you must apply Perma-Zyme correctly. In this blog, you’ll learn the 10 steps to apply Perma-Zyme to secondary haul roads, drilling pads, equipment pads, and other heavy traffic areas:
Perma-Zyme works best with soils containing clay, limestone, or decomposed granite. The positively charged enzymes in Perma-Zyme chemically react with the negatively charged ions in these soils to create a hard, concrete-like surface. Soil should also contain at least 20% coarse material for sufficient shear strength to support heavy vehicle traffic.
Since geotechnical testing is expensive and time-consuming, we provide complimentary soil evaluations for U.S.-based, heavy industry customers. We’ll analyze your soil’s level of compatibility with Perma-Zyme for free, then send you a report of our findings and recommendations to optimize your application.
Note: Due to U.S. importation laws, we cannot evaluate soil for international customers. Instead, request a free, at-home soil evaluation kit. We’ll ship it to you and help you interpret your results.
You may be able to amend soil that lacks sufficient compatible material. Customers who import compatible material to their projects achieve excellent results, and their lower annual maintenance costs more than offset material hauling costs. We’ll even help you choose the best amendment(s) for your soil.
Perma-Zyme’s usage rate is one gallon per 160 cubic yards of soil. You can calculate how much Perma-Zyme you need with this formula:
(Length in Feet x Width in Feet x Depth in Feet) ÷ 27 = Cubic Yardage
Cubic Yardage ÷ 160 = Gallons of Perma-Zyme
For most heavy industrial projects, we recommend a treatment depth of 12 inches (one foot). At this depth, you’ll require about 10 gallons of Perma-Zyme per acre.
SAMPLE PROJECT: FIVE-ACRE DRILLING PAD
(660 feet x 330 feet x 1 foot) ÷ 27 = 8,066 cubic yards
8,066 cubic yards ÷ 160 = 50 Gallons of Perma-Zyme
Want to quickly check how much Perma-Zyme your project requires? Try our handy calculator:
Note: The calculator above measures length in miles since many of our customers work with roads. If you measure your project in feet, divide that number by 5,280 to convert it into miles for the calculator.
As you’d expect, you’ll need to purchase Perma-Zyme before you can apply it. Contact us when you’re ready to purchase Perma-Zyme, or reach out to your sales rep directly. We’ll walk you through the purchase process and support you throughout the application.
Planning and preparing for your project includes design, material acquisition, scheduling, and traffic management.
Perma-Zyme treated soil is almost completely impermeable to water. So, plan your project as if unpaved areas are paved. Your design should include crowns, drainage ditches, and superelevation.
Remember, steep grades are more susceptible to rainwater erosion and washboarding, and Perma-Zyme is not a miracle cure for improper construction. Set a reasonable grade to ensure that your application lasts as long as it should.
Material acquisition includes ordering materials for soil amendments, if necessary, and securing a water source. Water is essential to successfully applying Perma-Zyme because it enables you to compact soil for maximum strength and durability. So, choose a water source as close as possible to your jobsite to minimize hauling, reduce costs, and save time.
You will also need to acquire equipment:
Since many mines and other heavy industrial sites don’t need super smooth surfaces, you can substitute a loaded soil scraper to perform wheelpacking in place of the smooth wheel compactor (more on that later.)
Heavy industrial projects usually require two to four days to apply Perma-Zyme and three additional days for the soil to cure. For perspective, Crowheart Energy treated an eight-acre drilling pad on this timeline:
When scheduling your Perma-Zyme application, choose a week when temperatures will remain between 40°F and 115°F. Temperature is crucial because extreme heat destroys enzymes, while cold slows them down and may stop soil from curing.
Make sure there’s no precipitation forecast for at least 72 hours after application, as this can compromise the surface before it cures. If heavy rain occurs before the application, consider postponing for a few days; otherwise, the soil may be too muddy to compact.
Perma-Zyme treated soil needs 72 hours to cure and harden. When traffic drives over the partly cured surface, it can create ruts, washboarding, and other issues—especially during the first 24 hours. A traffic management plan is crucial for preventing damage during the curing period.
In other industries—like county government or solar energy—people can close treated areas to some or all traffic while the Perma-Zyme cures. This helps the soil harden and preserves a smooth surface. We typically recommend closing the area for 24 hours and allowing only light traffic for the next 48 hours.
If you can do that, great. But if not, that’s okay. Most heavy industrial sites operate 24/7/365, and you can’t shut treated areas down. Instead, you can create a traffic management plan that balances the need to keep roads open with the need to let Perma-Zyme cure.
Begin construction by preparing your site on day one. Use the motor grader’s ripper attachment to scarify the soil to a depth of 12 inches (unless otherwise specified), breaking up clumps. Next, presoak the soil to its optimum moisture level and rake it into windrows to keep it from drying overnight.
Soil at optimum moisture looks and feels like putty. It’s wet enough to hold a shape without oozing liquid. This allows for good compaction, which presses soil particles as close together as possible during the Perma-Zyme treatment for the strongest, longest-lasting surface.
The amount of water you need to achieve optimum moisture will depend on your environment, soil, and climate. Let’s consider two examples:
Since water consumption varies by project, Perma-Zyme has no set dilution rate. Projects in humid or cool locations usually need less water—and thus have lower dilution rates—than those in arid or hot locations. For best results, use one gallon of Perma-Zyme per 160 cubic yards of soil and as much water as you need to maintain optimum moisture.
Fill the water truck with water first, then add Perma-Zyme second to prevent excess foam. (Great news: although Perma-Zyme is highly concentrated, it’s fully liquid and won’t gunk up your water trucks like lignosulfonate products!)
Use an onboard mixer or drive around for about 20 minutes to mix the water and Perma-Zyme. Spray the solution evenly over the entire project’s surface area. Then, use the motor grader to work it throughout the soil.
Perma-Zyme is 100% non-toxic and non-hazardous, so the only PPE we recommend is safety glasses. (That’s just because liquid splashing into one’s eyes can be startling.) If Perma-Zyme contacts your skin, simply rinse it off. After application, rinse your water trucks to avoid spreading Perma-Zyme anywhere you don’t want it, and dispose of containers in an approved landfill.
For more information, download the Perma-Zyme Safety Data Sheet.
Compaction is the most critical step. The more thoroughly you compact the soil, the stronger it will be. So, it’s important to take your time to do it right.
First, use the padfoot compactor at medium speed, with good contact pressure on the ground. When the soil is about 80% compacted, use the smooth wheel compactor to smooth the surface. If you’re substituting a soil scraper, fill it to capacity and drive over the treated area to compact it. (You can also use a loaded front end loader, dump truck, or other large, heavy vehicles.)
Pay attention to speed-change areas such as intersections, as good compaction helps these areas resist washboarding and ruts.
Compaction is complete when your soil reaches maximum dry density. A geotechnical firm can test your soil to identify its maximum dry density. For a ballpark estimate, you’ll know compaction is complete when small rocks on the soil’s surface begin to break under the compactor’s drum instead of sinking into the soil.
Because heavy-traffic roads and equipment pads require a deeper treatment than ordinary roads, we recommend compacting the soil in three- to six-inch lifts to compress it to the full treatment depth, not just at the surface.
First, export some soil from the work zone into a stockpile to keep it out of the way. Then, spread the first layer of soil over the treatment area and compact it fully using the padfoot compactor. The aggressive roller will leave indentations that help “zip” the lifts together, reducing the chance of separation or shifting.
The first lift needs some time to dry; how much time varies by project, soil type, and climate. Our friends at Crowheart successfully finished compaction within 36 hours, likely due to time constraints and rapidly drying soil. That said, we usually recommend allowing 48-72 hours so the first lift can harden as much as possible before applying the next. Leaving the bottom lift(s) wet could keep them from curing and let them shift later.
Once the first lift dries, import the next layer of soil from the stockpile and spread it on top of the first lift. Keep the second lift at optimum moisture to help it adhere to the first lift for best results. (Otherwise, it could also shift or separate.) Compact the second lift, let it dry, and repeat the process as many times as needed.
Soil must remain at optimum moisture to compact fully, but as you work, it will dry out. Check your soil’s moisture frequently with a hand test: pick up a handful of soil and try to roll it into a ball. It should look, feel, and hold its shape like Play-Doh. If your soil is too dry or crumbly, add water without Perma-Zyme. If it’s too wet, let it dry overnight, or rake it back and forth with the motor grader to evaporate the excess moisture via air exposure.
Permentation™ is the 72-hour curing process during which the enzymes in Perma-Zyme harden the soil’s surface. In this time, the soil will reach about 60% strength. As we discussed earlier, sticking to your traffic management plan is crucial to prevent surface issues. Remember, it’s temporary: after 72 hours, you can reopen the area to normal use, and the treated soil will continue to harden over the next four to six weeks.
When treating a road or equipment pad with Perma-Zyme, you may experience some slowdowns as you reduce or reroute traffic. We know that’s a pain in the neck. But you know what’s even worse? An unplanned stoppage you can’t control!
Short-lived solutions—or no solutions—result in unstable traffic areas that will fail or need constant maintenance, causing unpredictable downtime you can’t schedule. It’s much better (and safer) to have a controlled slowdown than an unplanned, poorly timed stoppage.
With Perma-Zyme, you have a plan. You are in control, and you can schedule the application during the time that’s best for you. When that one-time application is done, you’re set for up to five years.
You can apply aggregate topcoats in three ways, depending on the size of the rock you’re using.
For fine aggregate, you have two choices. You can add gravel to the treated surface and spray a solution of one part Perma-Zyme to 1,000 parts water on top to help hold it in place. Or, you can apply one to two inches of gravel shortly before you finish compaction and use the compactor to press it into the top layer of soil.
For coarse aggregate more than one inch in diameter, such as quarry spalls, we recommend embedding the rock into the soil during compaction so the soil will bind around the rock and hold it in place.
Larger aggregate is harder to adhere with a topical spray or add at the end of the compaction process. That’s why we recommend embedding it earlier during compaction. Proper grades and drainage, as we discussed earlier, will also help prevent material loss.
Applying Perma-Zyme is a one-time process that yields lasting results. Unpaved surfaces can last up to five years in heavy industrial settings with minimal yearly maintenance, saving you thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours. By following the best practices in this blog, you’ll be able to get the most out of your Perma-Zyme treatment.
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