Winter is often the most damaging time for your asphalt, especially if you live in a place where it freezes. You can keep your parking lot, easement, driveway, or other asphalt in tip-top shape without paying a contractor thousands of dollars by performing your own emergency winter asphalt repair.
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Why is Emergency Asphalt Repair Necessary?
One of the big asphalt damagers is water. In the winter, water freezes, which pushes on anything around it as the water expands. In the case of your asphalt, it widens any cracks within your asphalt and necessitates emergency repair.
Performing emergency asphalt repair is not merely about how the surface looks. It’s also about preserving your asphalt. By performing winter asphalt repair as you notice issues, you’re protecting your investment and helping it survive longer.
Additionally, emergency asphalt repair is necessary for the safety of your workers and customers. No one wants to see someone twist an ankle on asphalt unevenness or throw off tire alignment in a pothole. Following a few asphalt maintenance tips for winter can help prevent many problems.
1. Heated Crack Emergency Asphalt Repair
Contractor doing emergency asphalt repair in winter
One of the tricky parts of winter asphalt repair is getting a good bond between your repair and the original surface. Fortunately, you can heat the original asphalt with a torch. This action should warm the asphalt enough to bond with your emergency repair.
From there, you can add the crack sealer. A cold pour crack sealer requires that you use a squeegee to level the repair with the asphalt. If possible, this type of emergency asphalt repair should be allowed to cure undisturbed for a day or two to ensure it bonds properly.
2. Pothole Repair with an Infrared Machine
No one likes potholes, and once you have one on your town or church parking lot, they tend to grow as the edges take damage. They’re a hazard for vehicles and people alike, so conducting emergency asphalt repair is paramount.
Video: Infrared pothole repair
An infrared machine is a fast, effective asphalt repair tool in winter. This machine heats the asphalt millings. That helps the material fill in the crack evenly as you rake and bond so that you do not need further asphalt maintenance tips this winter.
This winter asphalt repair method requires you cordon off the area for a day or two if possible.
3. Cold Patch Winter Asphalt Repair
Cold patches are an effective winter asphalt repair option, especially if the weather does not warm up for long where you are. These also require no special machinery to create a reliable emergency asphalt repair.
With cold patch winter asphalt repair, all you need is the material and something to tamp with. You first level the crack out with sand. Then you can add the asphalt material to the whole slowly. With each layer, you tamp it down more, which forces the air out of your emergency asphalt repair. You want to end up with an inch or two of the material above the crack edge before the final tamp.
One of the final asphalt maintenance tips for winter fixes with cold patches is getting a solid final tamp. For this, place a board over your emergency asphalt repair. Then drive the heaviest vehicle you have back and forth over the board a few times.
Cold patch emergency asphalt repair does not require you to avoid stepping on it, making it a good choice for high traffic areas.
Using the Right Materials
One of the big tips in asphalt maintenance, especially during winter, is using the right materials. You should always use the highest quality materials so that your repair lasts.
Video: Aquaphalt Permanent Pothole Patch
In general, when you use heat in an asphalt repair, you’ll need a few days of temperatures above 50 degrees to cure. Without this period, your emergency winter asphalt repair will be less stable. The flip side is that once the repair does cure, it will last.
Cold patch asphalt repair is often the best option for asphalt maintenance in winter. It does not require a specific temperature, nor does it cure. However, unless the tamping is perfect, these repairs may need periodic redoes.
Not sure which materials will give you the best winter asphalt repair? Call 1-866-399-5562, and the friendly Asphalt Kingdom customer service team will help you decide and walk you through the steps for the best DIY repair possible.
