Asphalt crack sealing is an important step to take for the maintenance of your asphalt surface, because it helps to prevent larger maintenance projects down the road. Even the smallest cracks can easily turn into larger cracks, craters, and dangerous potholes. Done properly and frequently, asphalt crack sealing can easily extend the life of your asphalt.
Now that you know why crack sealing is important, let’s get into the when and how, along with some things to consider.
When to Perform Crack Sealing
Sealing cracks in a timely manner helps maintain the quality of your pavement. At Bituminous Roadways, we generally recommend performing this preventative maintenance during the spring and summer months.
How Crack Sealing Works
In every crack seal estimate, Bituminous Roadways includes routing, a process performed before cracks are sealed. Routing is done with a piece of equipment that expands all cracks to ¼” wide, which creates a reservoir for the rubberized crack sealant to sit in. Next, crews clean out the cracks to allow the best adhesion possible. Finally, rubber is installed into the reservoirs that have been created by the routing process.
The method described above ensures the rubber will fully penetrate the crack and adhere to the existing pavement. It helps create a truly waterproof seal to better prevent leaking, as opposed to placing rubber directly into the existing, non-routed cracks.
Things to Consider When Crack Sealing
Crack sealing is a great maintenance option, but it isn’t suitable for every situation. If a parking lot is too badly damaged where alligator cracking and potholes are present, it may not be fiscally responsible to crack seal. Crack sealing is unable to fix alligatored and micro fractured areas, because it is likely that future settling will continue to occur and break these areas up even more. When crack sealing is not an option, Bituminous Roadway estimators inform customers of these issues and opt for different maintenance techniques that are best suited for the current condition of the asphalt.
Another thing to note: Crack sealing works well in tandem with patching when considering a maintenance plan. Correcting large-scale damage with patching before fixing small cracks with crack sealing is what our team at Bituminous Roadways recommends every owner does each spring to help protect pavement from more extensive damage.
For more information on crack sealing or to have an estimator visit your property, please contact us at 651-686-7001 or complete a Request a Consultation form. For nearly 75 years, Bituminous Roadways has been the leading asphalt producer and installer in the Twin Cities Metro area. Call us today!