[video: Auckland Council logo (pōhutukawa flower over water). aucklandcouncil.govt.nz. Music plays. Digger pours ‘aggregate’ (coarse particulate material) onto cloth-covered area on a building site. Caption shows: ‘Stabilising entranceways’.]
[video: A driver drives a small truck over the entrance to the building site. Mud from the truck tyres is strewn across a driveway, footpath and out to the road.]
A man's voice: An important part of your site is the entranceway where trucks and vehicles arrive and leave. Sites get muddy and we don't want mud and contaminants tracked all over the road.
[video: Mud beyond the driveway and out onto the road.]
Man: This annoys the neighbours and causes a lot of complaints to Council which then leads to council fines and expensive clean-ups. Most importantly though, it pollutes the environment which is what we want to prevent.
[video: Young man in high vis vest and workwear standing in front of wagon on path of small rocks/stones on building site. Caption: Sean Brown, Brown & Brown Builders Ltd.]
Sean: So looking after your entranceway is a win-win for you, your subbies and for the environment. Here's how you do it.
[video: Digger scraping soil and grass at the edge of a pathway. Measuring tape showing between 10 and 20cm.]
Sean: First get a digger to scrape off the soil and grass to a depth of roughly 150mm. This is for the aggregate.
[video: Digger continuing to remove top layer of grass and soil, further along the path.]
Sean: Depending on the configuration of the site make the entranceway up to 4m wide and take it back as close as you can to your building platform.
[Video: Small truck backing into a path which has a t-junction effect at the top of it.]
Sean: Luckily on this site is an existing vehicle crossing which has wings. If your site doesn't have a crossing like this, make the start of the entranceway wider. Give it wings so people don't cut corners and carry mud and dirt out onto the road.
[Video: Mud spilling off a building site, across the footpath and out into the road.]
Sean: Lots of builders just lay aggregate on the entranceway but there's a better way of doing it.
[video: Aggregate laid across the entranceway to a building site. Sean kneeling next to aggregate with a bolt of geotextile cloth to one side. Sean pushes a piece of rock into the earth.]
Sean: If I push this rock into the earth it just sinks in; that's why we recommend you use a geotextile cloth underneath the aggregate.
[video: Sean and a workmate hammer geotextile cloth onto the ground.]
Sean: So start by laying the geotextile base. This holds down the soil and stops the aggregate sinking into the mud, which means you might even be able to reuse the aggregate.
[video: Truck pouring aggregate on top of cloth that has been secured to the ground. Worker raking the aggregate flat.]
Sean: Then lay your aggregate. This creates a rough surface for tyres and stops mud and earth being tracked onto the road.
[video: Sean standing next to aggregate that has been laid.]
Sean: Don't use a material like sand, crushed concrete or asphalt to build your entrance way, they won't work well.
[video: Sean bends down and picks up a large, palm-sized piece of aggregate.]
Sean: So use aggregate, and not just any aggregate: large wash aggregate. If you have too much fine material it'll get tracked out onto the road. Once this is done, you’re set.
[video: Front of house being built with mud and muddy water spilling towards the road. Shot of stormwater drain. Sean sweeping dirt back onto the aggregate with a broom.]
Sean: If any mud does get on the road, don't wash it down to the stormwater drain, sweep it back onto the site, not onto the road. Or if there is a large quantity, a sweeper truck should be arranged to clean the road.
[video: Sean back in front of the wagon on the aggregate.]
Sean: So remember it's your responsibility to keep the road and drains free from mud and sediment. So take a bit of time to get your entranceway right and you'll be sweet.
[video: Auckland Council logo. Music.]