Asphalt Driveway Patching

Driveway Repairs

If you have an asphalt driveway that is several years old it probably already needs some level of repair. Asphalt driveways are easier to install than concrete but like all driveways they require periodic maintenance and repair.

Sealing it periodically will help seal the small cracks but asphalt driveway sealer has its limitations. If there are cracks that are larger than a quarter inch you will need something more that sealer to fill the crack. Within the past few years high performance asphalt driveway repair materials has become available for the DIY homeowner to repair driveways. You don’t need expensive equipment and tools to make permanent repairs to the driveway.

If cracks are not repaired they will develop into a much larger problem that is referred to as potholes. All it takes is for the rain, snow, and ice over a single season to erode a crack into a pothole. These large cracks and potholes are easily repaired with the driveway patching compounds available today.

Crack and pothole patching compounds produce permanent repairs if you follow the manufactures directions. It is important to buy the right material if you want to successful patching the first time. The primary reason that asphalt driveway repairs fail is because it is the wrong material or it was not correctly installed.

Just pouring the patch material in the crack or pothole will not give you an effective repair because the edge of the cracks and potholes are tapered at the edges so the material thins out to nearly nothing at the edges rather than creating a solid bond. For an effective and long lasting repair the cracks and potholes must have sharp vertical edges that are at least one and a half inches high to make a tight bond between the repair material and the asphalt.

Repairing cracks and potholes cannot be effectively completed in a weekend, in fact it will take several weekends. After applying the patching material it will take two to three weeks for the material to dry and cure to a hard finish. After the patch material is thoroughly dry you can apply the asphalt sealer.

I recommend FloMix Flowable Asphalt Repair and Asphalt driveway patch FlexSet Rapid Concrete Repair for asphalt driveway repair. It is easy to apply and dries quite rapidly compared to other materials. It was originally developed as a rapid runway repair material and is now available for the DIY homeowner to repair residential driveways.

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