Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Ask the Experts: Why hose down the demo?



After watching the start of demolition, Ms. Murphy's second grade class had a question.

They didn't see any sparks or fire. So why did the crew squirt the building with hoses when it was being torn down?

It was time to ASK THE EXPERT.


We turned to John O'Toole at Suffolk Construction Company. Mr. O'Toole is the Senior Project Manager for the Old Colony Project. He makes sure that all the demo and rebuilding keeps moving along smoothly. He knew the answer to the second graders' question.

"Breaking the building apart creates a lot of dust," says Mr. O'Toole, "and dust is so light that it floats on the air. We don't want it to stay up there where people can breathe it in. So we squirt water on it. The water coats the dust and makes it heavier so it will fall to the ground."

Thank you, Mr. O'Toole!