-7- 

 A VISIT TO YAKIMA AND WENATCHEE CA STORAGES 



Dr. G. David Blanpied 

 Department of Pomology 

 Cornell University 



A group of 6 eastern CA storage specialists spent July 27 

 in Yakima with D. Loyd Hunter (Food Plant Engineering, Inc., 

 Yakima) and July 28 in Wenatchee with Dick Bartram (Coop. Exten- 

 sion Agent, Chelan County). In this report I will share with 

 you some observations from these visits. 



CA construction in Washington is booming. Approximately 4 

 million boxes of new CA capacity will be added in 1981 to their 

 present total of about 26 million. Their construction techniques 

 are very different from ours. Perimeter walls are almost exclu- 

 sively tilt-up concrete panels, which are poured at the construc- 

 tion site. Polystyrene insulation (less expensive than urethane) 

 is frequently set into the wet concrete before erection. The 

 gas seal for the inside of the perimeter walls, a thin layer of 

 sprayed urethane, is applied to the polystyrene after the panels 

 are erected. Urethane in storage rooms is covered with a fire 

 barrier (Zonolite- 3300) . Partition walls and ceilings are 3/8 

 to 1/2 inch plywood (waterproof glue) nailed to 2 inch x 6 inch 

 wall studs or to ceiling joists, leaving 1/16 inch spaces on all 

 sides. Seams between the plywood sheets are then filled and 

 taped. Wall-wall, wall-ceiling, and wall-floor joists are flashed. 

 The partition walls and ceiling are then spray coated twice with 

 an acrylic rubber coating. Ceilings and warm interior walls are 

 insulated with fiberglass; walls common to 2 storage rooms are not 

 insulated. The plywood-acrylic rubber gas seal is used for the 

 partition walls and ceilings to cut costs. Under Eastern U.S. 

 conditions of outside high relative humidity, the plywood-acrylic 

 rubber gas seal should be considered only for ceilings, and then 

 only when attic spaces are well ventilated to keep the insulation 

 dry. 



Built-up roofs are installed and built with a slight pitch 

 above aluminum, laminated-wood trusses, which are not available 

 in the east. Although roofing felt between 2 concrete slabs is 

 sometimes used to seal floors, a single concrete slab treated with 

 a floor sealer and hardner is frequently used. A metal-clad, 

 sliding door is usually sealed with rubber gaskets between the 

 door and the jam or with duct tapes applied inside the room after 

 the room has been filled. 



What's the turn-key cost, including electricity and refriger- 

 ation? About $3 per box for a one million box plant, and $3.75 if 



