Thursday, May 8, 2014

How To Ensure Your Asphalt Paving Material Lasts For Long

By Essie Osborn


Constructing pavements using asphalt material offers cheap, economical, and durable structures. When you use asphalt paving material, you will get a driveway or parking lot structure that can last for many years. The right procedures have to be followed when designing, constructing, and repairing pavements designed of asphalt material. Two important things that determine the quality of driveways is thickness and compaction of pavements.

Driveways are a safe place for kids to play around in homes. Designing your parking space and driveways using asphaltic material gives the first impression of your home or business. The driveways and parking lots are the first things people see, and they need to look as good as possible, and this is what asphalt offers.

Asphalt material also suffers from water damage. When moisture enters the sub base, it can loosen the material underneath and make the road structures unstable. The formation of cracks should be seen as an urgent thing to tackle. Allowing cracks to remain unrestored will cause water to enter the sub base and lead to trouble. The freeze-thaw effect is one thing that causes problems whenever there are cracks allowing water to seep down pavements. The cracks may be enlarged when water freezes underneath.

In warm and hot weather, the frozen water unthaws and leaves behind empty spaces. The material from above crumbles down and fills the empty spaces forming potholes. No matter how small a pothole may be, it should be mended immediately. Such errands should be left to paving technicians as they are complex and require the hand of professionals with vast experience on handling road construction.

The base forming foundation of pavement has to be compacted properly. For driveways, you need to have a sub base that is solid and very firm. If the base is weak and with loose soils, it may affect the integrity of blacktop. The quality of pavements is as good as the base it sits on. The sub grade layer, which is the ground on which driveways or parking lots are laid, should be smooth and firm.

Once you have laid down your asphaltic pavements, one thing you will have to deal with is repairs of cracks, potholes, and other defects. Because the blacktop loses its elasticity property with time, it begins to harden. You soon notice that the color of driveways have changed from beautiful black appearance to grayish. This is an indication that pavement material is hardening and needs to be restored.

Cracks such as alligator cracks can be repaired through patching. When seeking for a contractor, you need to engage with those who have demonstrated high skill and quality construction of pavements. You need to look out for contractors who have constructed projects that have withstood things like heavy loads and stormy weather.

When blacktop is heated directly by ultraviolet rays, it oxidizes fast than normal meaning that it hardens and loses its visco-elasticity property. In order to prevent such accelerated oxidation, you need to prevent the solar rays from directly heating blacktop material. This is why it is important to sealcoat the blacktop. It is part of the preventive maintenance procedures for driveways and parking lots.




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