The document summarizes the environmental investigation and remediation of a former dry cleaning site now occupied by Doll's Place Restaurant in New Brunswick, NJ. High levels of chlorinated solvents were found in soil vapor and groundwater from the dry cleaning operations. Remediation included installing a sub-slab depressurization system to vent vapors from under the building slab. This involved sealing the basement, installing an exhaust fan, and monitoring points to address vapor intrusion into the building. Indoor air quality testing will continue in June and December to monitor effectiveness under different weather conditions.

1. Julian McRae &
Samantha Murillo
April 30th
, 2013
New Swift Cleaners – Doll's
Place
101 Paterson St, New
Brunswick, NJ

2. Doll's Place Restaurant
●
Located at 101 Paterson
Street New Brunswick, NJ
●
Established in 1933 by
William “Doll” Heffernan
●
Original location was 27
French Street, New
Brunswick (on the other side
of the train tracks)
●
Robert Wood Johnson
Hospital bought the
property on French Street
and Doll's Place moved to
the Paterson Street in 2005.

3. Site Use History
●
Formerly New
Swift Cleaners
●
Location is in
downtown
New
Brunswick in a
congested area
with little
room to work

4. Past Contamination
●
May 2001
– After the 550 Gallon No. 2 Storage tank that was on the property
was removed, the contamination left over was reported to
NJDEP (Incident No:01-05-01-1535-46)
– Tank may have contained dry cleaning solvents
●
December 2001
– Groundwater samples were collected from the area of concern
where the UST was located
– Analytical results from monitoring well (MW-1) revealed
elevated levels of chlorinated volatile organic compounds
(CVOC’s) in ground water
●
Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) - 48,000 ppb
●
Trichloroethylene (TCE) at 8,100 ppb

6. Remedial Action: New Swift Cleaners
●
July 2002
– DEP requested sampling action to be taken on the
property that at the time was a dry cleaning business.
– After non-response and non-compliance from the
responsible party, NJDEP’s Bureau of Environmental
Measurements & Site Assessment (EMS) referred this
case to the Publicly Funded Remediation Element for
evaluation due to its potential to be an Immediate
Environmental Concern.

7. Areas of Concern & Sampling: Doll's
Place
●
August 2012
– DEP requested groundwater samples to confirm the
concentration of PCE, TCE and the possible PCE breakdown
products.
– Groundwater samples showed:
– PCE: 35,000 ppb (parts per billion)
– TCE: 10,000 ppb
●
September 2012
– Indoor air and sub-slab soil gas sampling in September 2012
showed indoor levels of PCE as high as 3,300 ug/m3 in the
basement and 280 ug/m3 in the restaurant.
– Case was assigned to Bureau of Site Management in November
2012 in order to install a sub-slab depressurization system
(SSDS).

8. Remedial Action: Doll's Place
●
November – December 2012
– Site inspection with the Subsurface Remediation Services Contract Term
A81464 Contractor, Envirotech Consultants, LLC (Envirotech)
– A cost estimate for the project was made
●
February – March 2013
 Initially decided to alleviate the generation of a basement negative
pressure and to properly contain the basement exhaust fan exhaust as
well as to generally seal the basement walls and floor.

9. Details on Remediation
February – March 2013
 1 SVE point was installed to a depth of 18 inches below the bottom of (5 inch thick)
slab.
 Ten monitoring points were installed throughout the ground floor of the building.
 Testing indicated moderate at best soil gas movement with ¼ - 2 pascals vacuum
measured between 17-22 feet from the SVE point (with 78 inches of water applied
vacuum).
 It was also observed that the ducting from the basement exhaust fan was leaking
into the office area close to where the highest level of ground floor IA PCE was
observed.
 Laboratory Results:
 Sub-slab PCE concentration was 380 ug/mt
 Basement IA was 6,800 ug/m (18 times higher)
 Office area had 280 ug/m
 PCE level decreases as one gets further from the office

10. Sanborn Map: 1897

11. Sanborn Map: 1904

12. Sanborn Map: 1912

13. Sanborn Map:
1912 until December 1950

15. Effects of Possible Contamination

16. Vapor Extraction Point being installed in the kitchen
that will eventually be sealed. Taken on 3/1/13

17. Vapor Extraction Point being installed in the kitchen
that will eventually be sealed. Taken on 3/1/13

18. Vapor Extraction Point being installed in the kitchen
that will eventually be sealed. Taken on 3/1/13

19. Remediation:
Doll’s Place
March 2013:
Basement walls and floors were sealed and the
existing attic exhaust fan was replaced with a
‘Fantech’ in line fan hard piped (6 inch) to the
outside and discharging above the roof line.

20. March 2013:
Shown: Sealing of the
basement walls and floors.
•Walls were painted with 2
coats of water proofing
paint.
•Outside air will enter
through that portion of
the existing fan discharge
not occupied by pipe.
Remediation:
Doll’s Place

21. Remediation:
Doll’s Place
March 2013:
Shown: Basement Floor
Sampling Point
•Floors were sealed with a
thin coating ¼ to 1 inch
thick of self-leveling
compound (a proprietary
blend of copolymers,
Portland cement, sand
and inorganic chemicals)
•Parts of the floor were soil
and were patched with
grout prior to flooring
application.

22. Remediation: Doll’s Place
Depressurization System

23. Remediation: Doll’s Place
Depressurization System

24. • One of the first
pictures of the
completed
depressurization
system from the
back of the
establishment.

25. Bollards
were
installed
outside to
protect
the fan
discharge
pipe.

26. Indoor air testing will be performed during the cooling and
heating seasons because worst case site conditions appear
when the exhaust fan is on-in warmer weather during the
cooling season. (This is planned for June and December 2013.)
Indoor Air Testing