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Protect Your Asphalt Pavements With A Seal Coating Procedure

By Ines Flores


Once you have installed asphalt pavements, you will have to maintain the surfaces in good condition. Asphalt material will degrade with time meaning you need to recondition it. This paving material undergoes a constant change as it ages. The once flexible asphalt will harden and become fragile as it ages. A seal coating procedure is needed to preserve and condition the blacktop.

A number of elements both natural and manmade will act on blacktop. These elements include UV light, snow, deicing salts, moisture, and gasoline products. UV light heats your asphalt pavement and makes it to harden and change its color. If you notice a change in color from the deep black to a light gray color, then it means that the blacktop is degrading.

Asphalt pavements, like many other paving materials, they are damaged by things like UV light, moisture, and gasoline products. When UV light heats asphalt materials, it makes the pavements to harden and become flaky. With constant use and from pressure exerted by vehicle weight, your pavements will begin to wear out fast.

However, if they are left unchecked, they can grow bigger and cause more cracking. A sealcoat is not intended to offer repairs but it is only a preservation procedure. Water is another element that causes a lot of damage. The moisture penetrating inside pavements will settle on the sub grade layer and during the freeze thaw cycle, the cracks will enlarge.

As UV light bakes pavements, it causes cracks. The first signs that will show that you need a sealcoat applied on your pavements is change in color. Due to the effects of sunlight, the pavements will turn from the rich black color to a grayish appearance. If you notice your pavements have changed in color, consider applying a sealant.

Gasoline products including engine transmission fluids and oils also degrade the backstop. Using a sealcoat provides a cover or layer, which shields these substances from coming in direct contact with blacktop. Sealcoats are applied on pavements that are in good form. If there are defects like big cracks, they need to be corrected before you can use the sealcoats.

If you apply a sealant on already damaged pavements, you are only masking the problems and soon they will reappear. The first sealcoat is applied after allowing the newly installed pavement to cure properly. It takes close to one year before the oils on new pavements can cure properly. Once you have put the first sealcoat, you will time in time need to apply the same material.

It is required that after very three to five years a new layer of sealant material is applied. Nonetheless, it may be determined by other factors including the use of pavement, effects caused by UV light, water, and snow. At times, you may have to reapply the sealant within a shorter period than expected. One thing you need to ensure is that you consult with a contractor who uses quality sealcoating materials.




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