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Prevent Damages On Driveways By Applying Asphalt Sealcoating

By Cornelia White


Sealcoats are preservative procedures, which help restore the quality of pavements and prevent damages caused by weather elements and gasoline products. With asphalt sealcoating, this process helps in restoring the black color of blacktop, preventing direct heating of pavement by ultraviolet rays, and protection from action by water. Asphalt, though a durable materials, it has its own weaknesses too.

Sunlight releases ultraviolet rays, which heat asphaltic material breaking it down. The molecular structure of asphaltic material is highly damaged by the ultraviolet rays. In order to prevent such damages, you have to protect the pavements. Ultraviolet rays increase the oxidation rate of asphalts leading to increased drying and unraveling of the material.

Ultraviolet rays reaching the blacktop begin to degrade it. Although is initially flexible and elastic, with time due to UV rays, asphalt will dry out and become rigid. It also turns its color and looks grayish instead of the beautiful black hue. The use of sealcoats not only helps to restore the black color but also prevents weather elements like the UV rays from damaging blacktop surface of your pavements.

At this juncture, you have to replace your pavements or the entire road structure. Ultraviolet rays begin to act on pavements soon they are laid down. The heat from the sun directly bakes the asphaltic blacktop and begins to make the material rigid. Asphaltic material is designed to work best when it is elastic. But when it is heated, asphalt dries fast and becomes hard. As it continues to receive sunshine, it becomes too hard to bend or expand and contract.

However, if tiny hairline cracks enlarge, they should first be repaired before the sealcoat is applied. Sealcoating is not a curing or repair technique but only a preservative produce. It cannot be used to cure surfaces that are damaged. Sealcoats are applied after allowing the initial asphaltic pavement to cure properly.

When the asphalt becomes rigid and inflexible, it means that it cannot expand or contract evenly and cracks form easily. However, with use of the sealant products, the elasticity is improved, and the blacktop can contract and expand uniformly thus reducing formation of cracks. The formation of cracking permits water to enter inside pavements leading to another lot of problems.

De-icing salts are used to thaw snow from the roads during the winter season, and when blacktop material is exposed to these salts, it leads to premature damages. Any defects on pavements will have to be repaired before a sealcoat is applied. If you apply a sealcoat on defective asphaltic pavements, it only masts the problem and proper binding may not occur.

Applying the sealcoat products restores the black color adding a curb appeal to your pavement structures. The coating also prevents gasoline products from damaging the pavements. Asphalt materials are affected by gasoline, and since they are made from similar petroleum-based raw materials, they tend to react with each other. However, by using asphalt sealcoating products, you are able to prevent salts and gasoline products from damaging the asphaltic materials of your pavements.




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1 comment:

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