Asphalt gets worn down all the time. You’ve probably seen roads or parking places with cracked or broken asphalt as you go about your daily life. If the company that paved your asphalt didn’t mix or spread it the right way, your blacktop could need repair sooner rather than later. The weather is another thing that can damage your pavement in a big way.
Watch out for these common asphalt problems and find out if you can fix them with an asphalt care plan or if your asphalt pavement needs to be fixed.
5 Common Asphalt Issues and How to Fix Them
These everyday things can ruin your road. Learn to find them and fix them.
1. Breaking up
The most common trouble with asphalt is that it cracks. Cracks in asphalt can look different and have different reasons and fixes.
Cracking the Alligator
Alligator cracking is when a piece of asphalt breaks in many different places and directions, making pieces that look like scales. When the foundation is put in, if it is not packed well, it can lead to structural problems that lead to alligator cracking.
If you have alligator cracks, you should hire a paver to fix the problem. The paver can then repack the base and cover that part again.
Cracking the Block
Block cracking is when big squares or rectangles are made by cracks in a block. The weather generally causes cracks in blocks because it makes the asphalt shrink. When we fix asphalt in Salt Lake City, we see a lot of block-breaking because the weather changes so much.
Fill the crack with caulk and reseal the whole area to fix small cracks in the block. If there are a lot of cracks in the asphalt, you may need to replace it all.
Edge Splitting
Edge cracking is damage to a piece of asphalt near its edges. When the base layer under the asphalt wears away from the side, it often causes the asphalt to crack at the edges. Then, the tarmac that is not supported breaks.
You can fix small cracks along the edges. But if you don’t want them to come back, you need to replace the base and protect it from further erosion. When the edges crack too much, the asphalt may need to be taken up, the base layer fixed, and then the road paved over again.
Cracking along the length
Longitudinal cracking is when the pavement breaks along the length of the road or along the lines that divide the lanes. Longitudinal cracks happen when asphalt shrinks. Most of the time, temperature changes cause asphalt to shrink. This happens sometimes when we fix roads sometimes.
Small cracks that run along the length of something can be sealed. Get a professional paver to look for structural problems and re-pave if the cracks are longer.
2. Depressions
Depressions in your asphalt look like holes. They happen when there is a weak spot in the building under the asphalt. The soft spot might have been caused by bad fitting, too much weight, or just time.
Fix repressions as soon as possible because water will get in them. If that water freezes overnight, it could hurt your asphalt even more.
You can fill in more small holes, but if you don’t fix the weak spot under the asphalt, the craters may come back. Get the help of a professional asphalt paving company if you have depressions that keep happening or are big.
3. Small holes
When a piece of asphalt breaks off in the middle of the sidewalk, it leaves a pothole. When a car hits a bump, it can do a lot of damage. Potholes can happen on their own, but most of the time they are caused by other kinds of road damage that aren’t fixed until it’s too late.
Before you can fix a pothole, you need to clean it out. Then, pack down the base and add as much more base as you need. Then fill in the hole.
4. Raveling
Raveling happens when some of the asphalt solutions wear away, leaving the rest loose and uneven. Asphalt’s chemicals slowly break down over time, but traveling can also be caused by many other things. For example, if the wind keeps blowing sand across the surface of the sidewalk, this will speed up the raveling process. When we do asphalt repair in sometimes, we see this a lot because the dry wind is so rough on the pavement.
Some raveling can be fixed by picking up the loose pieces and reapplying asphalt to the areas that have been harmed. When the asphalt is more than ten years old and has a lot of traveling, the whole area may need to be replaced.
5. Upheaval
Upheaval happens when the sub-level of the asphalt pushes up and breaks the asphalt. This is usually caused by freezing or too much water.
Since the problem with upheaval started below the surface, it needs to be fixed there. Take away both the broken asphalt and the higher sub-level. Then you can fill in the damage with an asphalt patch. If the harm is bad, it might need to be repaved.
Why it’s a good idea to hire professionals to pave asphalt
As you can see, fixing most of these common asphalt problems isn’t a small job. If the repairs aren’t done right, it’s possible that the problem will get worse. Don’t take a chance and try to fix these things on your own. Doing so could make a simple fix into a job that needs to be done from scratch. Don’t try to lay concrete, fix it, or keep it in good shape on your own.
For asphalt repair get in touch with us
The professionals at Bulldog Paving Ltd. know that the harsh weather in the Mountain West can often harm the asphalt. We can help you with everything you need for asphalt.
With an asphalt repair plan, you can protect the asphalt you already have. You can fix or repair old, broken asphalt, or you can get brand-new pavement. Bulldog Paving Ltd. seals repaves, resurfaces, fixes cracks, patches asphalt, pavers asphalt, pave concrete, does grading and digging, seals with onyx mastic, seals with slurry, and paints lines. We can show you how to keep your home safe and looking great.
