When you first had your tarmac driveway installed no doubt the thought of having to carry out any kind of tarmac repair was very far from your mind. If you didn’t have it installed but bought your house with the driveway already in place having to repair the tarmac would not likely have been one of your concerns. Unfortunately as good as a surfaced driveway is, with use and age, as with humans, deterioration takes place and repairs have to be made.
Constructing a tarmac driveway, although not the most expensive option for surfacing a driveway, is still a sizeable investment. So when it needs repairing it needs to be done properly. The thing is many home owners believe that doing it properly means using either the paving company that originally built it or some other commercial paving concern. This doesn’t have to be the case. There is such a thing as cold tarmac repair which is well within the capability of most people.
Many of the problems with a tarmac driveway can be repaired by the average person. No great technical knowledge is needed and you certainly don’t need to call in a professional firm, unless of course you have experienced a minor earthquake and your driveway has sunk 5 feet into the ground.
Some of the problems you are likely to encounter include small tarmac repairs such as:
tarmac cracking
- Cracking
- Potholes
- Collapsing edges
- Fuel and/or oil spillages
These kinds of repairs are well within the capability of the average homeowner to handle. All it will take from you is a little bit of time put in seeking advice from your local hardware merchant about the various tarmac repair products that are available on the market today. Then just a little bit of time actually carrying out the repair.
The following will give you a brief idea of what is actually entailed in carrying out these repairs:
Cracks
There are many different types of cracks but they generally fall into one of two categories.
Long cracks that occur along the length or across the width of your drive and lots of little ones that occur fairly close together.
The reasons for these cracks are many and varied and which we are not going to go into here. The point of it all is to seal the crack before further damage occurs.
To treat longish isolated cracks:
- Clean the crack out first. This can be done with a wire brush or even a stiff bristled broom.
- Apply a cold tarmac repair sealant, bought from your local hardware shop or construction chemical supplier, and allow to set before driving your car over it.
To treat many fine cracks:
- Clean the surface of your driveway where the cracks are first.
- There are many kinds of cold tarmac repair sealants on the market. Get advice before purchasing to make sure you get the right product for the job.
- After cleaning the surface apply the sealant and spread over the surface where the cracks occur. Some products can be applied as a spray. Others are applied and then spread around using a squeegee.
- Again allow the product to set before driving over it.
Potholes
Potholes occur for many reasons. Perhaps the original construction wasn’t as good as it could have been. Maybe a crack developed and over time moisture got in and gradually it become an ever increasing hole. It could even have come about as a result of fuel spillage or an oil leak from your car. The thing is you need to fix it before it becomes a massive crater. Tarmac pothole repair is not as complicated or involved as you might think. To do that you need:
- To clean out the hole. Use a broom or small spade to remove all the loose material.
- Square the hole off so it has neat tidy edges.
- Apply a cold pour bitumen emulsion to the bottom and sides of the hole.
- Get a couple of bags of tarmac repair and place in the hole. Fill the hole to about half an inch above the surface of the driveway.
- Compact the cold mix in the hole. Use the back of a shovel to bang it down and you can then drive your car over it and allow the tires to finish it off.
Collapsing Edges
You will generally only get this problem if your driveway has not been edged with some type of kerbing.
If you do have this problem edge repairs can be done the same way as pothole repairs. And if your driveway is not edged it would pay you to have it done or the same problem will keep occurring.
Fuel and/or Oil Spillages
Fuel and oil if allowed to leak on to a tarmac surface will, over time, soften the area of the spill. This in turn as it is trafficked will gradually wear away and a pothole will form. If you catch it early you may be able to get away with just removing the affected tarmac and replacing it with cold tarmac.
If you don’t catch it early enough you will end up having to patch it as a pothole.
As you can see with minimal effort, knowledge and skill on your part you can repair tarmac quite easily. This will save you money so the next time you think about calling in the experts just remember how easy it really is.