Budgeting for Your Asphalt & Pavement
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Posted On :
Aug-11-2011
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Article Word Count :
719
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When you budgeted for your facility, did you include a parking lot maintenance plan? As asphalt surfaces break down, erode and become brittle, proper periodic assessment and treatments are essential in maintaining a quality surface and infrastructure.
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When you budgeted for your facility, did you include a parking lot maintenance plan? As asphalt surfaces break down, erode and become brittle, proper periodic assessment and treatments are essential in maintaining a quality surface and infrastructure. The ideal course of action can save time and money by making sure the maintenance applications are matched to the severity of the pavement problems.
Spotting The Conditions
Surface, Bond, and Structural failures are the most common types of asphalt failures. Types of surface failures include: raveling, and transverse or longitudinal cracking problems. Raveling is the decrease in aggregate from the surface as a result of abrading action from automobiles. Longitudinal cracks run in the direction of traffic and transverse splits are perpendicular to longitudinal cracks. Longitudinal cracks are typically caused from shrinkage.
Cracks in the upper layers of asphalt occur when there is slippage between two layers of surface or pavement. This is commonly known as a bonding failure.. More often than not when a crack failure occurs in combination with a bonding failure, the top layer of asphalt tends to flake off in large pieces. The most severe defects are structural cracking which can include fatigue cracking and rutting. When heavy automobiles and trucks roll over weakened pavement, fatigue cracking begins due to the flexing up and down of the pavement itself. This type of damage is easily identified by its alligator skin like appearance. Once the road cannot support the heavy loads applied onto the surface itself, the damage become evident. Rutting is a depression of the pavement in the wheel path and is usually continuous throughout a pavement. It can occur in just the asphalt layer or throughout the entire infrastructure of asphalt, base, and soil.
What Can be Done to Treat Surfaces
Depending on the type of damage that has occurred will determine the type of treatment applied. Surface treatments include: surface seal coats, crack filling, slurry seals, selective dig-outs and patching, or full overlays.
Surface seal coats offer several types of treatments. Included are: slurry, cape, micro-surfacing, fog, and rubberized chip seals for starters. A fog seal contains no aggregate or sand and is spray applied to keep the surface aggregate in place. One step beyond the fog seal is the surface seal coat which does contain sand and asphalt emulsion and other materials within the mixture. This treatment creates a dark and uniform appearance in the pavement itself and allows for defense against UV rays and water intrusion. A slurry seal consists of emulsified asphalt binder, a graded fine aggregate additive and water and is applied by machines with pressure.
An overlay is used over the top of an existing pavement surface to strengthen and protect the original structure. The thickness of the overlay will depend on the surrounding area such as sidewalks and drainage paths. Overlays can also be rubberized depending on the application. Often times the surface will have to be shaved down, so to speak, in order to prevent hazards for passer-by's. This method is known as milling. Also the use of paving grids and fabrics over the top of an existing cracked pavement can offer additional strength and water intrusion protection.
Choosing a Plan of Action
Slurry seals, asphalt seal coats and sand seals are primarily used for parking lots. Areas that endure slow travel and constant turning forces commonly use these types of seal techniques. The oils are harder than chip and cape seal oils and reduce tire marking on the pavement.
Chip seals, cape seals, slurry seals as well as micro-surfacing are predominantly used for roadway applications. These treatments vary depending on the conditions of the road. Whenever there are repairs to be made to the asphalts surface, dig-out repairs and crack filling must be done prior to the treatments.
So you can see there are various failure modes from minor surface issues to major structural failures as well as a wide variety of treatments to deal with them. Plus following a general maintenance plan through the lifecycle of the pavement will help prevent early failure and maintain the asset through its expected lifetime. Getting the advice from professionals who know exactly what type of maintenance, treatments, repair, or replacement is the best way to get started.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Budgeting for Your Asphalt & Pavement_73023.aspx
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Author Resource :
Miles Labbitt recommends you always have a pavement maintenance plan professionally done to protect your valuable assets. For actually doing the work in the Southwest, these Las Vegas asphalt and Arizona asphalt pavement maintenance experts have offices in Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico.
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Keywords :
Las Vegas asphalt, Arizona asphalt pavement maintenance,
Category :
Business
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Business
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