Wednesday, July 9, 2014

How Asphalt Patching Can Help Repair Your Pavements

By Rosella Campbell


Many homeowners and business property owners will find themselves with problems on their asphaltic parking lots and driveways. While you may have high quality paving surfaces, if they are not taken good care of, they could easily disintegrate and become defective. Although there are various techniques applied when repairing cracks and potholes on pavements, the asphalt patching technique is one effective way of correcting localized damages.

When you have laid down your pavements, the next thing to do is ensure that you maintain them properly. Even with the best designs, construction practices, materials, and expertise, if you do not take good care of your paving surfaces, they will deteriorate fast. The construction of a new driveway is something costly, and you do not want defects to render your expensive structures useless.

In order for asphaltic pavements to function properly, they need to be elastic. This implies that when they dry up, they cannot contract or expand as required. The hardening results to formation of cracks. The cracking forming will allow moisture and water to seep down and wreck havoc on the interior of the pavements.

The material is affected by environmental factors such as ultraviolet rays, water, snow, as well as manmade elements like salts and gasoline products. When it is heated and baked by UV light, the material dries out and becomes brittle. It loses its elasticity property and begins to wear out. When you do not repair the damages, you might have to do very costly repairs.

Cracks have to be addressed as soon they are noticed, otherwise when you delay, you will be surprised by the kind of damage you deal with. The first sign that your blacktop is deteriorating is the change in color. Initially, the blacktop has a deep black color but when it is heated, it fades and assumes a grayish color.

During this time, you may have tiny small cracks known as hairline cracks. These are not a problem as such since they may not allow moisture to penetrate however, if they are left unrestored, the will widen and become visible. The fine hairline cracks could easily be solved by just sealcoating. But, one thing with sealcoating is that it is not meant to be a repair technique but rather a preservation process.

There are various products you can find in the market for patching but they may not all offer the same results. You ought to search for those that are specially formulated with polymer-modified substances. Depending on the size of the pothole or crack that is being repaired, you may use cold patches or hot patches.

There are products that have been developed to provide the patching of driveways or parking lots. You ought to ensure you use quality product so that the problem is resolved. Potholes may also be repaired using this technique since they tend to be localized or occur within one area. You can do the patching yourself if you are knowledgeable, but if you lack the skill, it is better to consult a contractor experienced in road construction.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment