Shrouded Power Tools Hit a Homerun at Pawtucket Baseball Stadium

A $15 million public-private renovation project began the transformation of an aging ballpark into a new state-of-the-art minor league complex in Pawtucket, RI by opening day of baseball season. Planned improvements to McCoy stadium include 3,000 more seats, new entrance tower, a 12-foot-high berm with picnic seating to ring the outfield, additional parking lots and accessibility for the handicapped.

During the bidding process, O. Ahlborg & Sons, the general contractor was notified that the roof supports and corresponding beams contained approximately 80,000 ft² of old, lead-based paint which requires strict control during removal to prevent release to the environment. Abrasive blasting was evaluated for such a project, but full containment, scaffolding, safety and ventilation systems required by abrasive blasting techniques would be too costly. Chemical strippers were evaluated but thought to be unpredictable. The potential for multiple applications of stripper to remove the aged coatings increased waste generation and 24-hour delay in removal of the stripper was not desirable given the rigid time constraints of the project. This highly visible project required a deleading contractor to utilize dustless power tool cleaning technology to perform the lead-based paint removal in preparation for a new coatings system.

Environmental Contracting, a Providence-based deleading contractor, was selected to perform the lead abatement and prepare the structural steel surfaces for coatings application. "We were not awarded the project solely on low price, we were awarded the project because of our company's track record in utilizing Pentek's state-of-the-art technology," says Bill Tracey, President of Environmental Contracting, Inc.

The first phase of the project involved the removal of lead paint from the underside of the canopy which wraps the stadium from right to left field and covers the majority of the seating in the stadium. The work schedule demanded grueling double shifts to meet the opening day schedule. A 100-foot crane was used to hoist two (2) Vac-Pac Multi-Tool HEPA vacuum and waste collection systems to the highest seating level. The system's capacity to control lead dust and debris allowed Environmental Contracting's workers to operate without containment and ventilation structures. Additionally they were able to eliminate wind load problems of containments and minimized daily set-up and tear down.

Pentek's mobile Vac-Pac HEPA vacuum and waste collection systems, stationed in the concourse of the stadium, provided the capability to run up to 12 tools simultaneously. Environmental Contracting's ability to quickly deploy and demobilize equipment, and flexibility in configuring the system increased the productivity of the abatement project, while permitting other phases of stadium construction to go on without interruption.

Eleven tool operators began stripping the steel beams and roof supports, then repainted them. Workers were situated on JLG lifts with 50 foot reaches allowing them to attack the I-beams and support structures with Roto-Peen scalers and Corner Cutter needles guns. The shrouded Roto-Peen scaler cleans flat steel to a bare metal finish, while the needle gun has interchangeable shrouds to tackle the intricate roof supports, bolts and rivets as well as flat area surfaces. Each individual operator could quickly change his tool by transferring the vacuum hose and airline to the new tool. The hose lengths were taped off at strategic positions so that the workers lifted only the tool itself, not the weight of the airline and vacuum hoses. The ability to change out lightweight tools rapidly or adjust the geometry of the shrouds meant workers could efficiently abate all surfaces within their reach.

All coatings were removed by the 100% mechanical system and conveyed directly--via 150 ft., 1-1/2 inch vacuum hoses--into a 55-gallon drum integral to the Vac-Pac unit. This process allowed the lead-based waste to be sealed under negative pressure for a dustless changeout to a new DOT-approved waste disposal drum.

The majority of the first phase was completed prior to opening day April 9, 1998. The second phase of this work involved lead paint removal from the support structures beneath the stadium, and is being completed as the early season progresses. The project demonstrates the successful use of power tool cleaning under vacuum conditions.