One of the very first things, which a visitor to your house or property will see, is the smooth, shiny, well-tended driveway or the road in front of it. It will go a long way in impressing that client you always wanted to visit your faculty. However, asphalt even though durable, it may seem to be looked after and worked on from time to time. This is where asphalt road repair and maintenance services come to the picture.
Asphalt is a mixture of bitumen, sand and fillers. It is a petroleum-derived product. Even though it is quite durable and usually last for years, it does erode and become brittle with the time period. All this depends on a variety of factors such as usage, load factors, weather conditions, water, temperatures, quality of the paving process etc. Hence it’s best to have a periodic inspection and treatment to make sure that it can stay in top notch conditions for the maximum number of years. Regular timely preventive maintenance can save a lot of time and money.
Before we go on finding out more about the work done by various asphalt road repair and maintenance services and treatment options available, its best to know about the different defects, which can arise on the asphalt road in the first place.
Asphalt defects can be broadly categorized based on the type of damage by asphalt road repair and maintenance services into 3 different types: Surface, structural and bond.
- Surface Defects:
This kind of defect includes raveling, longitudinal or transverse cracks. While raveling is generally formed on the surface due to the abrasion of wheels of passing vehicles, longitudinal cracks are generally caused by shrinkage due to weather conditions. They are usually present in the same direction as the traffic runs. Transverse cracks as the name suggests are present at right angles to the longitudinal cracks.
- Structural Defects:
Structural defects usually include more severe kind of defect on an asphalt pavement- fatigue cracking. It results from the constant flexing action of the surface with passing of heavy loads over it. It usually occurs when the lower layers cannot support the loads being subjected to the upper layers. The surface begins to look much like an alligator skin. On the other hand, rutting is the damage caused by depression of either only the asphalt layer or all the layers together such as the asphalt, base and soil.
- Bonding Defects:
These kinds of defects are caused by bonding failures between the upper and lower layers of the asphalt. Here the upper layers can be observed to chip off in large or small flakes.
Different types of Treatment and Restoration Methodologies used by Asphalt Road Repair and Maintenance Services:
Depending on the extent and the kind of damage inflicted, the asphalt road repair and maintenance services will use different ways to tackle the problems being faced. Surface seal coats, slurry seal, selective digs, crack fills and complete overlays are some of the ways by which the problems are tackled.
Overlays are usually laid on top of existing coats to strengthen and seal the underlying layers. Milling of the underlying previously exposed layers are sometimes required to avoid potential hazards to motorists due to surface height differences. The overlay can be made of varying thickness and can be rubberized for protection against additional seepage of water.
Depending on the specific condition and usage of the road asphalt road repair and maintenance services will decide the best possible way repair treatment necessary to treat and fix the issues facing the pavement. Parking areas utilize asphalt seal coats, sand coats etc. which is best suited for places which will have constant turning frictional forces while usual road surfaces get slurry, chip seals which help it in bearing loads and burden of the passing vehicles over it.
