< Back Private Driveway (Isanti, MN) Water to run off causing pooling and frost heaving Year Completed: 2020 This property owner reached out to TDA Manufacturing about his driveway settlement complications. The driveway surface was a low elevation, causing water to run off from the yard and pool on top of the driveway. TDA Manufacturingʼs recommendation for this failing driveway was to improve the subgrade with TDA because it is a very strong material that has 50% void space, allowing for superior drainage. TDA also has a capillary break component that does not allow moisture to wick back up to the surface. 24 inches of clay/loam subgrade was removed. Then 36 inches of TDA was placed and geotextile fabric placed over it. 18-24 inches of the soil removed during the sub cut was used to compress the TDA. The finishing touch was Class 5 on the surface. The addition of this new subgrade raised the driving surface approximately 2 feet and allows rain to run off the driving surface. Project Gallery Previous Next

(Back) Projects: Stormwater Management American Engineering Testing (St. Paul, MN) Saving limited valuable real estate space Read More Central Community Rain Garden School districts choses TDA for storm water management system next to parking lot Read More Depot on Main Apartments (Zimmerman, MN) Underground stormwater system for 65-unit apartment Read More Old ballpark used for stormwater management Recycled Tires Hit One Out of the Old St. Paul Saints Ballpark Read More Paynesville Secondary School Unique stormwater management system installed at high school Read More Stearns Bank (Albany, MN) Parking lot water flow problem solved Read More Woodbury (MN) Maintenance Facility TDA helps city meet 2040 goals for public works expansions Read More

< Back Chomonix Golf Course TDA replaces poor soils under parking lot and tees Year Completed: 2000 The main goal for Anoka County engineers was to raise the level of the Chomonix Golf Course site to create a solid foundation for not just the parking lot, but also the driving range tee boxes next to the lot. The existing soils were poor and did not have the strength to support the parking lot and tee boxes. Installing TDA (Tire Derived Aggregate) under parking lots can serve many purposes such as thermal insulation, soil stabilization, capillary break to improve drainage, and more. It can also lighten the load on underlying soils. County engineers had the option of using sand fill to elevate the golf course area but decided against it. The engineers instead choose TDA because of its interlocking "snowshoe" capability, which produces internal reinforcement, eliminating differential settlement. TDA was placed and compacted to a height of about 3 feet. Geotextile fabric was then placed on top of the TDA prior to 18-24 inches of sand. The site was then paved. Thanks to TDA, golf course managers won't have to worry about the parking lot sinking, cracking or buckling during the spring thaw! Project Gallery Previous Next

< Back River Road (Bismarck, ND) Road re-opens after four month closure Year Completed: 2009 River Road in Bismarck, North Dakota needed a solution for a slope issue. The road had settled 2-3 feet and was closed for four months. The slope that was failing is along the Missouri River, meaning the project was not able to excavate too deep without impacting the river-way. The plans to stabilize the slope included a combination of driven piles and TDA (tire-derived aggregate), which is a lightweight fill. Slope failures generally occur from a lack of shear strength. In engineering, shear strength is the strength of a material or component against the type of yield or structural failure where the material or component fails in shear. (A shear load is a force that tends to produce a sliding failure on a material along a plane that is parallel to the direction of the force.) In this scenario, underlying soil movement caused a slide and the resulting surface failure. There was not enough shear strength to restrain the soil movement or prevent it from affecting the surface. Reducing the weight of the failure location was perhaps the most important part of the repair project. Soil weighs approximately 2,200 lbs. per cubic yard, and that number can increase significantly depending on moisture content. TDA, on the other hand, weighs 600 lbs. per cubic yard dry or wet. The combination of being a lightweight fill, having permeability, and possessing high shear strength makes TDA a great material for slope stabilization projects such as this. Project Gallery Previous Next

< Back Previous Next < Back American Engineering Testing (St. Paul, MN) Saving limited valuable real estate space Year Completed: 2018 A 330-foot-long concrete walking path is more than a safe route through the parking lot adjacent to the Paynesville Area High School addition. Under the path is a unique stormwater management system designed with tire-derived aggregate (TDA). During construction of the parking lot, the existing path was dug down six feet, lined with a special fabric and filled with TDA. Approximately 46,000 tires were used to manufacture the TDA. Voss Plumbing and Heating installed the TDA in one day, using their heavy equipment to compact the material. Workers new to the material commented it was like driving on marshmallows, but there were no issues with the project. Water running off from the building and parking lot will collect in the TDA. From there, water will slowly infiltrate into the soil. Should there be a large storm, there is an overflow into an existing storm sewer system. The stormwater management plan was designed by Stantec. Jeremy Mathiasen, project manager, said TDA was the right choice for several reasons. “The biggest factor was space,” Mathiasen said. The alternative would have been to create a large open water feature, which would’ve reduced the parking area or green space. Being underground, we were able to maintain more parking area and keep the feature centrally located on the project. TDA helped us maintain green space and meet parking requirements." Cost savings are also a consideration; alternative water management plans would’ve been more expensive. TDA performs well. Mathiasen says there is a high void space with lots of room for water. The material is lightweight. It compacts well. It serves multiple purposes and meets multiple civil engineering needs. Maintenance is minimal. There is a clean out system that allows sediment to be flushed out if it builds up, but that isn’t expected to be an issue. National studies on TDA show environmental benefits, Mathiasen explained. “Testing points to tire shreds and the steel in the shreds help treat nutrients in the water,” he said. Monte Niemi, CEO of TDA Manufacturing, has been a champion of educating the construction and environmental industries on the benefits of using TDA. “TDA is an invisible workhorse in civil engineering applications,” Niemi said. “Across the country, it’s getting recognition for solving problems in the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly and technically sound ways.”

< Back County Road 12 (Kettle River, MN) Frost-heaving problem resolved Year Completed: 2001 County Road 12 in Kettle River, MN had a trouble spot that underwent annual surface maintenance due to frost-heaving. Later it was learned a spring in the middle of the road subgrade that constantly pumped water to the surface and damaged the road with moisture and frost-heaving. A conventional subbase of clean class 5 aggregate was installed and the next year an edge drain was installed, and yet the water was not handled efficiently enough to prevent road damage. Class 5 could not get the water to the drains effectively enough. Installing TDA in the subgrade solved the moisture problem because the void space within TDA allowed water to move into the drains. As a bonus, the TDA void space and hydrophobic properties prevent water from wicking up to the surface of the road and causing frost-heaving problems. Project engineer John Sielmeier said: "Tire shreds were placed along about 700 feet of Carlton County Road 12 during 2001. In the past, this portion of the roadway had experienced frost heave and spring thaw weakening requiring excessive maintenance activities. The tire shreds were placed to increase the durability and safety of this portion of the roadway and to try an innovation technique that may have applications to other roadways in Minnesota." Project Gallery Previous Next

< Back Black Bear Casino Trail Path stabilization with TDA Year Completed: 2001 The Black Bear Casino was in the process of developing their golf course and typical granular material was too heavy for the soils in this location. TDA was used to lighten the load on the soft and frost susceptible soils for the golf course paths. Project Gallery Previous Next

VIBRATION MITIGATION TDA can be used as a vibration dampening layer, protective cushion, and seismic isolation layer for earthquake engineering design because of its has a high vibration adsorption capacity. A four-meter deep TDA isolation wall decreases the ground vibration between 5 to 12 dB in comparison with common soil. It also reduces the vibration frequency of 40-60 Hz to 20% (Hayakawa et al., 2008). TDA underlay provides a significant reduction to rail frequencies above 16 Hz and is a very cost-effective alternative to traditional floating concrete slabs.

< Back Zero Carbon World What is a Zero Carbon World? Traditional energy sources like coal and gas produce carbon dioxide among other gasses when they are burned to fuel power stations. Zero carbon means that no carbon emission are being produced form a product or service (for example, a wind farm generating electricity.) To be able to claim net-zero carbon you will need to achieve the full emissions reductions (90-95%) and then offset the remaining 5-10% of emissions via projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere. Previous Next

Company History TDA Manufacturing CEO, Monte Niemi, was already in the tire business when Minnesota became the first state in the nation to regulate waste tire disposal and encourage the cleanup of waste tire piles. Shortly after, Monte was brainstorming and testing innovative ways to utilize waste tires when the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency invited him to speak at a government conference on the topic of recycling tires, called “Waste Tires: What’s beyond land disposal"? The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) successfully used Tire-Derived Aggregate (TDA) to build forest roads instead of conventional log corduroy. This led to the construction of multiple such roads, and Braun Engineering's evaluations concluded that they were outperforming all other roads in the area. Monte, the inventor of a drainage layer that uses tires in road subgrades, was granted a patent for his invention. This success led to the establishment of TDA Manufacturing . Our Vision Those early projects are cornerstones of our company and were very important for o ur growth. Over time, we have been fortunate to work with government, private developers, civil engineering firms, contracting companies and other organizations that have assisted us in developing how we market our TDA material. ​ The 30+ years of dedicated work to get TDA used in civil engineering projects has included ups and downs, both of which continue to help evolve our business plan and marketing strategies. ​ We believe that the key to getting our TDA material designed into civil engineering projects is found in education. The product is relatively new, especially compared to natural material, so teaching about TDA and its many benefits is the most important factor in getting it sold. ​ Increasing the end-users comfort level both mechanically and environmentally is our specialty. We will take what we have learned and invest it into your market.

< Back Stearns Bank (Albany, MN) Parking lot water flow problem solved Year Completed: 2019 Previous Next