Tuesday, February 3, 2015

By Ines Flores


Once you have installed asphalt pavements, you will have to maintain the surfaces in good condition. Asphalt material will degrade with time meaning you need to recondition it. This paving material undergoes a constant change as it ages. The once flexible asphalt will harden and become fragile as it ages. A seal coating procedure is needed to preserve and condition the blacktop.

When properly applied, sealcoats will lengthen the life of pavements. A sealcoat will also recondition the surfaces making them look like new. Sealcoats are not repair procedures but used as preservation material to protect pavements. If there are existing damages such as crack and potholes, they need to be repaired prior to sealcoat application.

You can recondition it using a sealant material. The sealcoat will make your pavements to be flexible and look like new. Due to effects of UV light, pavements will crack. The first tiny hairline cracks may not be a problem and they can be corrected easily with use of a sealcoat. However, when you leave the blacktop unprotected, the fine cracks will worsen and develop to bigger cracks.

You cannot restore the big cracks using a sealant material. They need to be repaired using procedures such as crack filling or overlays. Water is another element that will damage pavements. As moisture enters your pavements, it will make the sub grade layer to loosen up. The pavements become unstable and with the vehicle weight, they will shift and form defects like depression or cracks.

When water solidifies as it freezes, it enlarges and makes cracks to widen and deepen. After the thaw process, voids are left in spaces where the frozen water settled. You may have potholes and deep cracks forming on pavements. Using a sealant will protect the surfaces and prevent water from seeping down inside the paving material.

Another sign you should look for is development of small fine hairline cracks. These are usually not easily visible and do not cause a lot of trouble. But if they are not restored, they will pave way for bigger cracks. The small fine hairlines cracking can be corrected using a sealant. But sealcoats are not meant to serve as repair materials. Sealcoats are designed to preserve pavements.

If you apply a sealant on already damaged pavements, you are only masking the problems and soon they will reappear. The first sealcoat is applied after allowing the newly installed pavement to cure properly. It takes close to one year before the oils on new pavements can cure properly. Once you have put the first sealcoat, you will time in time need to apply the same material.

The blacktop will crumble down and result to a pothole or another defect. Moreover, gasoline products like the oils or transmission fluids will degrade your asphalt pavements. When you apply a sealant material, it will provide a protective layer, which prevents these substances from taking their toll on pavements. Sealcoats need to be applied at the right time. Immediately you have installed a pavement, you will not need to sealcoat it. You have to wait until the oils dry out.




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